


Broken Fates

by Lunatic-Quill (LunaticMao)



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Assassins & Hitmen, F/M, Human Experimentation, Other, Reader-Insert, Romance, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 05:31:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7087243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaticMao/pseuds/Lunatic-Quill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Torn between his world and yours, you tread carefully as you slowly uncover the harsh truth behind his savage life. "I don't even know how many lives I have taken in all those years. I've already failed everyone twice, I can't risk to do it again. I can't fail to avenge my family. Not anymore." [Saïx/Reader] [Semi-Mature Contents]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Fateful Encounter

**Broken Fates**  
_—When nothing else feels right, just trust your heart._

**Chapter 1:** The Fateful Encounter

\---

The blaring of music thumped inside your brain as you lazily moved your hips up and down the beat. The paralyzing smell of alcohol and cheap perfume dulled your vision. The faint glow from the strobe light hypnotized you as you were drawn into a state of blissful ecstasy.

You didn't quite remember how you ended up here. Everything felt blurry yet natural. Nothing else mattered.

A familiar face popped up from between the sea of bodies as you steadily marched to the bar. He brushed back his flaming red mane, smirking at you. His green eyes shining under the faint light. "I see you're enjoying yourself."

"Axel," you called, trying to focus your blurring vision. "I think I should go home."

"The night is still young," he mused, raising a brow at you. "Sure you don't wanna stay a bit longer?"

"I'll probably pass out if I stay any more minute now."

"Want me to take you home?" he asked, sounding worried. You were a bit drunk after all. "Let you go by yourself last time and you ended passed out on top of the slide at the park. If Roxas didn't see you back then dunno what's gonna happen."

"Nah, I can go by myself," you tried to convince him. That wouldn't happen again.

"Fine. Give me a call if something came up." He smiled and waved a hand, walking back to the dance floor. "See you tomorrow, partner."

You gave him a nod before sliding out of the room, freeing yourself from the wild surrounding.

The September night breeze felt colder to your bare arms as you stumbled on your steps. The nauseous feeling started to build up the further you walked, forcing you to slow down your movements. You halted and supported your weight on the walls as you felt the sudden urge to throw up. You thought about calling Axel to take you home.

You slowly resumed walking, ignoring the thumping in your head. The sooner you get home the better. You couldn't give up.

Feeling your knees getting weak, you decided that it was probably best to take a shortcut. The alleys by the old church south of town was quiet and dark, but going through there would save you the time and energy. You eagerly walked faster as you fantasized about your warm bed at home.

Never did you knew that it was the biggest mistake you had ever made.

The rain from earlier that day had left everything wet and puddled. You silently walked through the dark road, with only the sound of your footsteps echoing through the thin air. You saw the silhouette of the church, standing lone with only the dim streetlights illuminating the old building, creating an eerie atmosphere.

You felt shivers down your spine as you quietly walked pass it. You weren't sure if it was your drunk mind playing tricks on you or if you actually saw shadows moving in the corner of your eyes. You didn't dare look as you quickened your pace.

You turned down the dark alleyways by the side of the church. It was just as eerie and quiet that you wouldn't be surprised if something jumped out from the dark to your face.

You saw the path coming to an end and you had to go through a smaller path to the right. Just when you were going to turn you heard a noise coming from behind the corner. Your breath hitched and you instinctively pushed yourself against the wall to hide from whatever it was there. When nothing else was heard, you braved yourself to take a look.

Your eyes went wide as you saw a man strangled unconscious by another man in a cloak. The mysterious person had his face hidden under his hood, but you could feel a strong murderous intent coming from him. He was most likely powerful as he managed to raise the strangled person up in the air with just a single hand. The unconscious man--presumably dead--hung limp against the wall. You could see blood dripping from around his lower abdomen.

Your knees suddenly felt weak and you felt nauseous. You wanted to scream and run, but your body just wouldn't let you. You were too shocked and scared to do anything.

Your whimpers made him notice you and he shot you a cold glare. You froze. Your whole body was shaking from fear when he let go of his victim and started walking toward your direction. You let out a shriek when he grabbed your arm when you were trying to run away. He pinned you to the wall and strangled your neck.

He raised his head a little. Despite the situation his voice was calm, "How long have you been there?"

You shook your head, even though you knew it didn't answer his question. You couldn't think straight anymore and just muttered hopelessly, "Please don't kill me..."

He didn't respond and kept staring at you. Due to the low light and tears welling in your eyes, you couldn't make up his face. It was still half hidden under his hood. Was it your fate to be killed by a person whose face you didn't even know?

You weren't given a chance to do anything as you felt a cold sting behind your neck before everything went black.

***

Your eyes shot open. You adjusted your vision and examined your surrounding. You were tied to a chair in the middle of a small and dark room with your mouth shut with a tape. You looked around in panic before feeling a cold object pressed on to your neck.

You shivered as you heard a whisper from behind you, "Try something and I'll kill you."

You shook your head and shut your eyes in fear. Apparently the murderer had caught you. You cursed yourself. If only you took Axel's offer to walk you home... If only you weren't stupid enough to walk through that so called shortcut... Then none of this would've happened.

The man took the blade off your neck and walked in front of you. You noticed that he was not wearing his cloak anymore and you could see his face clearly. A tall figure with sky coloured hair hung to the middle of his back. His eyes were a stunning shade of gold. A prominent cross shaped scar was left on the top half of his face, making you wonder how he ended up with it. You cursed yourself again for thinking about how handsome he was.

He looked down at you, face twisted in anger and disgust. "What did you see?"

You tried to speak, but due to your mouth being shut it came out as a whimper instead. He sighed and harshly pulled the tape off your mouth. The pain was enough to make you scream.

"Silence!" he shouted. You looked up at him with tears in your eyes. "Tell me. What did you see?"

"N-Nothing..."

He grabbed the collar of your shirt and pulled you to his face, the chair making a screeching noise against the wooden floor as it was dragged forward. "What did you see?" he repeated.

You sobbed as you said, "I'm sorry! I-I saw you strangle him to death... that was all! I was just passing by..."

He threw you back to the ground. You shrieked as the chair that binded you nearly lost its balance. He growled under his breath and shot you another glare. "Give me a reason not to kill you."

"I'm very sorry!" you plead, not having the courage to look him in the eye. "I-I won't tell a soul! I swear! Please... just let me go!"

He stepped forward and pressed his blade once again against your neck. He tilted his head. "How can I trust that?"

"I'll do anything!" you shouted. It was the best thing to say if you wanted to bargain with him. At least then you would have a chance to escape.

"Anything?"

"Anything!"

"Hmph." He released the blade from your neck. "Interesting offer. I suppose I can make use of you rather than killing you."

You gritted your teeth. Whatever it was he was thinking it must not have been good. You took the courage to ask, "Who are you? Why did you kill that person?"

"I'm an assassin," he said, his voice void of emotions. "This is the first time I've ever been caught in the act."

You gasped in horror. An assassin? You thought they only existed in movies. Was he joking? Had he lost his mind and made up everything to cover up his murder?

"Listen, woman," he said again, narrowing his gaze on you. "I'm going to let you go, but with a condition--"

"W-Wait!" You shook your head. You must've turned mad to be asking questions at him. "You're an assassin? So, did someone hire you to... kill... that person?"

"That is none of your business," he spat, looking angrily at you. "All you need to know is that from now on you'll be my asset. An informant. Refuge. You must be ready for anything I need when I'm doing my missions."

"What...?" You looked at him in disbelief. Did he just ask you to be his assistant? Helping him murder people for money? "But, that's--"

"You've said it yourself," he said again. "Or you'd rather die instead?"

You weakly shook your head. "No..."

"Then just do what I said." He repeated, "Be in my assistance. I'll let you live."

You lowered your head and gritted your teeth. Was there really nothing else you could do? Did you really have to help someone you barely know of murder people? Was it your fate?

You sighed and looked up at him. You needed to calm down for now. Maybe then you'd find a way out of this.

You tried to look as convincing as possible. "Fine. I'll play along with your game."

"Good," he said, his face as expressionless as ever. "But if you even try to run away," he paused, taking something from a drawer behind him and dangled it on his hand, "I'll find you."

You gulped and felt a sweat roll down your face. It was your purse. He probably looked into it and found your ID or something. You started questioning your chance to get away from him.

By the moment you noticed him move you felt a cold sting behind your neck as everything turned black once again.

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't help the feeling that this fic has a similar atmosphere with my other one...
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like it.  
> Excuse my typing and grammatical errors. I'm not fluent in English.
> 
> (FYI I have written a lot of chapters for this fic, so it might be updated regularly)
> 
> Thank you for reading.
> 
> Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix


	2. The First Visit

**Broken Fates**   
_—When nothing else feels right, just trust your heart._

**Chapter 2:** The First Visit

\---

You stared at your coffee for the longest time. You sighed, cradling your face in your palms. You had been lacking sleep since that fateful day.

When you woke up it was already morning and you were sleeping in your own bed. He must've brought you home after knocking you unconscious that night, which meant he really knew where you lived. You were wide awake for the rest of the week, afraid that he might just knock on your door or barge in when you were asleep.

Roxas and Axel came back from lunch break and sat beside your desk. The blonde looked at you worriedly, tilting his head. He asked, "Hey, [Name], you sure you're okay? You've been weird the last few days. Maybe Axel did something to you?"

The red haired guy slapped his back. "I didn't! But Rox's right. You've been acting strange since we went to the discotheque last week. Something happened on the way back?"

You laughed lightly. You couldn't let their worry be in vain. "No, nothing. I guess I drank too much. The ringing wouldn't go away." You pointed to the general direction of your head.

"You didn't even drink that much!" Axel frowned and jokingly made a face. "I think you're just getting old..."

"Hey!" You tried to pinch him but he ran away with a laugh.

Truthfully you were getting worried. It had been a week since that happened but you had not seen him or got in any sort of contact with him yet. Did he really lie about being an assassin and was just trying to cover up his murder?

You questioned your assumptions when you saw the news on TV a few days after that. Something about a missing person came up. The missing person was a guy in his thirties, shown when he was last seen in a CCTV from a local mini market. He was wearing the exact same clothes you saw when he was assassinated last week by the mysterious blue haired guy. Apparently the victim was involved in child rape and a business fraud before his death.

Maybe that was the reason someone hired an assassin to kill him?

You wondered if you should contact the police about what happened, but you were scared. The police couldn't even find evidence of the assassin's doings in this case, and he probably had done numerous other murders before this. If you told the police they would probably think that you were lying if they couldn't find him. You should just stay quiet for now until you were sure it was fine to speak.

Axel offered to walk you home after work. Your house wasn't far from your office and it was just a ten minutes walk. Axel's house was just a few blocks away. You used to go to the same school so you had been good friends since.

He stretched his arms and looked at the sky. "It's cold. Winter is coming."

"Yeah. Will you be visiting your family this year?" you asked, looking at a bunch of kids playing by the road.

"Maybe. My mom keeps on whining for me to come home." He let out a hearty laugh.

You laughed back. "Maybe I should think about going home too sometimes."

Your family lived overseas and you rarely ever see them. The last time you saw them was probably around two years ago. You missed them sometimes, but life must go on.

There was a moment of silence before Axel asked, "Hey, [Name]. Are you really not gonna tell me what's going on?"

You silently sighed. Nothing went pass him, huh? He knew you for the longest time, after all. You bit your lip and looked away. Truthfully, you hadn't think about it. Should you tell Axel? Maybe you should... maybe he could help you with this... maybe he'd find a better way to talk to the police or something and end your fears. Maybe he could save you.

But if you involved him in this it would mean to put him in danger. You didn't know what exactly you were dealing with, and you couldn't forsake his safety. It was not a wise act, not for someone as kind as Axel.

You smiled at him instead. "You don't believe me? I'm just tired, is all. You know our boss never go easy on us."

He rolled his eyes. "I know. It just doesn't feel the same, you know? Something is bothering you."

"Yes, there is," you said, looking up at him. "But it's nothing you need to worry about. I'm fine, really."

He only looked at you for a moment before turning his gaze back forward. "I see. Maybe you'd like to refresh your head again today?"

You sighed. You were still not over the trauma of coming home late, even if Axel were to accompany you home. It was still not safe to wander around with the possibility of an assassin following your tail somewhere. It was best if you just go home as soon as possible.

"Nah, I'll pass. Maybe next week," you said while shaking your head.

He didn't respond and the rest of the walk ended in silence.

He dropped you home and you said goodbye to him. He continued walking to his own house and disappeared around the corner. You sighed. You praised your decision to not sacrifice him for your own good. It was your fault from the beginning, so you had to deal with it yourself.

You took a bath and cooked a quick dinner before laying on the sofa to watch TV. You spent your time like this for the last few days—staying at home. You were still feeling insecure about going somewhere after work, afraid that you might encounter him again somehow if you came home late. You even installed a new set of locks on your doors and windows just in case.

Time went by and it was dark. You started feeling tired and your eyes felt heavy. You drifted off into a light sleep before a tap on the balcony door woke you up from your slumber. Your eyes shot open as you jumped out of the sofa, paranoia eating up your senses. You looked at the door in fear when you noticed a silhouette standing behind the curtain.

The person tapped again on the glass door and you heard him say, "Open the door."

You noticed that voice. You wouldn't forget it even if you tried. It was the assassin. He came to your house. He must've needed something.

You nervously walked to the door and peeked behind the curtain. There he was, hidden under his usual black cloak and hood, standing still like a gargoyle on your balcony. He looked very contrast to the rest of his surrounding.

You unlocked the door and let him in. He walked past you and sat on the edge of your bed, taking off his cloak to reveal a fresh wound on his arm.

You bit your lip and asked, "What happened?"

"Stabbed. He brought a knife," he said, examining his arm.

You quickly ran to pick ointments from the bathroom and sat beside him. You started treating to his wound. He watched you in silence and you couldn't help but ask, "Where have you been?"

"Missions."

"I thought you would never show up," you said as you continued treating him.

"Are you hoping for me to actually come?" he asked, glancing at you sideways.

You blushed. "No! I mean... I was scared for the whole week. I thought you would need my help sooner."

"I am a professional," he said, looking around your room. "I don't always need a hand."

"Don't you always do your job alone before this?" You looked up at him. "Why do you need me now?"

He paused for a moment. "I thought you could be of some use. Like this."

You rolled a bandage around his wound and plastered it shut. "So I don't actually need to get involved with your assassination jobs?"

"I didn't say that."

You frowned. He was right though. If he could make use of you he would try to get the most of it. This was probably just the beginning.

You sighed and licked your lips. "I saw the news. The police couldn't find you nor the victim. What did you do to their bodies?"

"Do you seriously want to know?" He glanced at you from the corner of his eyes.

You quickly shook your head.

He stood up and walked towards the door. You followed him. "You're leaving already?"

"Do you want me to stay?" he asked, tilting his head a little at you. The angle made him look more dashing than he already was.

"N-No... but there's still so much I want to ask," you trailed off. "What is your name?"

He just stood in front of the door silently for a long time. In the end he decided to go and left your question hanging unanswered in the cold night breeze.

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love how mysterious his character came out to be <3  
> I hope you guys enjoyed this. I dunno if this fic's gonna be long or not. I haven't really decided.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	3. Food for a Name

**Broken Fates**   
_—When nothing else feels right, just trust your heart._

**Chapter 3:** Food for a Name

\---

You walked out of the mini market with your groceries in hand. It was a nice and sunny Sunday morning so you thought it would be good to take a walk and went shopping.

It had been two days since the mysterious assassin first visited your house. You somehow managed to sleep well enough after that, feeling weirdly relieved. Maybe you found his calm demeanor as un-threathening.

You looked at your watch. It was ten in the morning so you still had some time left before going back home and make lunch. You decided it would be nice to visit the garden.

The garden downtown was owned by a kind young lady. You liked to visit her from time to time. You bought fruits on the way to give to her later.

The bell above the door rang when you pushed it open. A brown haired lady turned to look at you. Her bright emerald eyes glistened under the sunlight. "[Name]! It's been a while."

"Hello, Aerith," you handed her the basket of fruits. "Good to see you well."

"Me, too," she said with a smile. "How is Axel?"

"He's great as usual, with too much energy to spend," you replied and laughed.

Aerith giggled. "Do you want some tea? We can chat for a while."

"Sure," you said with a nod and sat on the small rattan chair.

Aerith sat across you. She smiled. "Is something bothering you?"

You sighed and looked around. Her garden was as beautiful as always. "Not really... There's just a lot in my mind lately."

"Mind telling me about it?"

You contemplated for a while. You definitely couldn't talk about it with anyone, not even Aerith. You bit your lip. Maybe ask a little wouldn't be a problem. You looked at her and nervously asked, "Do assassins really exist?"

Aerith looked at you with a mixture of shock and confusion. Her face turned into one of amusement a while later. She laughed. "Why are you asking that?"

"I-I don't know," you stuttered. Maybe it was a bad idea to ask about it after all. "I'm just really curious, is all..."

"Well, I've never known any assassins personally, so I'm not sure," she responded and chuckled again. "Most likely they just exist in movies. Sometimes you ask the most childish questions ever, [Name]. I think you hang out with Axel too much."

You frowned and blushed. "R-Really...?"

"Of course. I mean, whatever the reason is it's against the law to kill someone." She shrugged. "Maybe assassins do exist a long time ago, but I don't think anyone can just get away with a job like that nowadays."

"I see," you muttered.

You ended up losing track of time and spent the rest of the day chatting with Aerith. She let you have lunch with her earlier, and when you realized it was already dark outside. She offered you dinner but you politely declined. You needed to get home before dark. You said goodbye to her and quickly walked home.

The nights were getting colder and colder every day, and this night wasn't any different. You shivered under your thin button up shirt.

Despite the low temperature, the busy streets of the city was still bright with activity. People were spending time with their family and loved ones. You sighed. It made you feel a bit homesick.

You walked past an empty park. The sense of paranoia in you rised as you noticed someone standing on the end of the path. The person was wearing jeans, teal checkered button up shirt, and a dark blue hooded jacket with his hands slid into its pockets. He turned to look at you and you realized that it was the assassin.

You gasped and jogged to his direction. "What are you doing here?"

"You weren't home," he replied casually, eyeing the people who were passing by. "You should always be there when I need you."

You looked at him in mild annoyance. "How would I know? You should've contacted me in advance." You suddenly realized that you didn't have any sort of communication media with him. "Do you have a phone?"

He only stared at you.

"Alright, you don't," you concluded, trying to hold back the urge to roll your eyes. What century was he living in? "You should go buy one. It comes in handy."

"I can't. Electronic devices can track me. It's not safe."

"I see," you mused. You couldn't help but wonder what kind of life he was living outside of his job. "Then we should think of another way to contact each other... just in case."

He seemed like he wasn't listening and turned back to walk away. You figured he was probably heading to your house, so you followed him. You tried to match his pace and commented, "I see you do have something else in your closet after all." You eyed him from head to toe.

"I'm not currently in a mission. There is no need to cover myself," he replied briefly.

You raised your brow in confusion. "So, if you're not on a mission, what do you need me for?"

He paused for a moment. "Food."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm hungry."

The two of you arrived at your house not long after. You quickly put down your groceries and started cooking. You reminded yourself to cook double the normal amount. You noticed him standing on the doorframe watching you the whole time while you cooked.

Once you were done you served it on the table. The smell was delicious and your stomach growled. The nameless man was just sort of staring at his plate with an unreadable expression. You raised your brow and asked, "Do you not like it? I-I can cook something else if you want to..."

"No. I'm just not used to having a fancy dinner."

Fancy? It's just stew. You chuckled. "What do you normally eat, anyway?"

"Food from the headquarters."

You kept your eyes on him while chewing. So assassins had headquarters. Were they like an organization? Did that mean there were more people like him there? "Why aren't you eating there today?"

He paused for a while, eyes still glued to his untouched plate. "I can't. I'm currently avoiding the headquarters."

You put your fork down. "Why?"

He raised his head and looked at you. His golden gaze blank as ever. "They're offering a job to kill children. I can't take it."

Your eyes went wide in shock. Despite his voice sounding so emotionless he could actually have a thought about his victims. A cold blooded murderer like him actually had a heart?

You bit your lip and asked again, "But you're alright with killing full grown adults? Like that person you... assassinated... last week?"

He shook his head. "He was involved in a lot of cases. He deserved to die. I was just saving him what respect he had left."

"So... you'd still kill if a child does what he did?"

"Yes."

You looked at him with a frown. This guy... he might have some justice in him, but he was definitely doing it the wrong way. You took the liberty to ask the very question you really needed the answer of, "Why did you become an assassin?"

He didn't answer.

The two of you just ate in silence for the rest of dinner. After you were done, you stood up to take the dishes back to the kitchen, but he halted you before you managed to go. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Saïx."

"What?" you asked in confusion.

"Saïx," he repeated. "It's my name."

"Sa... ïx..." you trailed off. A smile beamed on your face as you offered your hand to him. "I see. It's nice to meet you. You can call me [Name]."

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally gave you his name... took 3 chapters...
> 
> How do you like this fic so far?  
> Give me some thoughts~
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	4. The Unbroken Terms

**Broken Fates**   
_—When nothing else feels right, just trust your heart._

**Chapter 4:** The Unbroken Terms

\---

The printer made screeching noises as you punched it in irritation. The old device had started acting up again lately.

You sighed in desperation. Your boss wanted your reports done before lunch and you were stuck in this situation. What luck.

Olette, a girl from another division, passed by and saw you. She put her stuff down and hurried to your direction to help with the printer.

You laughed lightly. "Sorry."

"It's okay," she said, shaking her head. "It does this often. You just have to hit it right around... here." She pointed to the side of the printer and hit it hard. The printer turned back into normal afterwards.

Your eyes widen in amusement. "Oh, so that's the trick..."

"Yes," she said with a giggle. "By the way, Mr. Ansem is a bit rushy with you lately, [Name]. You rarely ever hit your deadlines. Are you having problems?"

You sighed. Everybody seemed to be asking the same question lately. Were you really that easy to read?

You shook your head and chuckled. "My boss is always rushy. I do have some personal issues, but I try not to take it to work. Sorry if it's causing trouble for anyone."

"If you need help you can talk to me. Or maybe ask Axel and Roxas. You're close with them, right?" she asked, picking her stuff back.

"Yeah, but this isn't a problem I can really discuss with anyone," you replied, taking the papers you printed. It really had turned back to normal.

"I see," she nodded in pity. "Good luck with it."

You smiled as she walked away.

Saïx, the assassin who finally told you his name, stayed for the night yesterday. You felt insecure about letting a stranger—a murderer to be exact—sleep in your house, but you didn't really have a choice. You let him sleep in your house in the end but when you woke up this morning he was already gone.

You questioned your own doings. Was it really okay to do this? Should you tell someone about this? You didn't really know anymore. It was like you were helping someone hide a body. Guilty, but obligatory.

***

Axel and Roxas asked you to go eat at a café after work. You wanted to refuse and just go home, but you had been refusing their offers a whole lot lately. You had to go once in a while or they would start to become suspicious.

Axel made a loud noise as he sucked clean his shake through the straw. He grinned at you. "It's been a while since we hang out together like this."

"You've been kind of distant lately, [Name]," Roxas commented, playing with his bacon.

"I'm feeling well enough now so I thought why not. I'm starting to miss you guys, anyway," you said with a smirk.

"Aww, I thought you were bored with us!" Axel whined and you threw a tissue ball at him.

"We should arrange a vacation," Roxas suggested. "We haven't done that in ages."

"Let's go to Malibu!"

"Yes, but you're paying," you commented and smacked Axel's head. "How about a picnic? I can cook something nice."

"Oh, a picnic sounds great!" Roxas agreed.

"Nooo, we should really go overseas!"

"But Axel, [Name]'s right. That's too expensive..."

"You're no fun, Rox!"

"I'm just being realistic..."

You laughed in amusement. It was fun to watch when these two argue. Their closeness made them look like brothers despite them having no blood relations.

You looked around. Twilight café was famous for its beautiful sea view, especially when you came after work where it was sunset. The environment was calming and nostalgic. You were glad you decided to come with them here today.

Your eyes stopped at a table with a person sitting alone, watching you closely. You would notice that eccentric hair color and scar mark anywhere. It was Saïx! What was he doing here? Shit... did he came looking for you because you weren't home when he needed you again? Either way, he was definitely here for you since he was throwing you that creepy glare he always had.

God knows what he'd do to you if you ignored him.

You glanced at Axel and Roxas. You couldn't just ditch them now. You needed to think of something.

Or so you thought.

Saïx stood up from his seat and started walking towards your direction. He was literally approaching you when Axel and Roxas were around! What was he going to do?!

You were frozen in your seat when he came to your table. Axel was the one who noticed him first and raised an annoyed brow at Saïx, probably for glaring at him. "What do you want?"

"I need to borrow her," Saïx said monotonously, pointing at you.

Axel and Roxas both gave you a confused look. Axel asked, "Well, you know this guy?"

You palms were sweating. What should you say? "Uh..."

Without letting you answer, Saïx grabbed your arm and dragged you away from your friends. You were brain frozen and just helplessly followed his steps, looking at a confused Axel and Roxas who were shouting questions you couldn't answer.

You shouted back before they were out of your view, "I'll call you later, guys! I'm sorry, but I have to go!"

You couldn't hear their reply as you were dragged outside of the café by Saïx.

Axel was still looking at your general direction even after you disappeared with the stranger. Roxas tapped his shoulder, eyes also glued to the direction you went.

The younger blonde asked, "You think she'll be okay? Is that her boyfriend?"

"I don't know," Axel replied, not once taking his eyes off of the door. He clenched his fists. "I just feel like there's something wrong with that guy. I'll have to keep an eye on him."

***

You weren't given a chance to speak as he held your arm tightly and dragged you all the way to your house. He told you to open the door and threw you inside before slamming it behind him.

You shrieked in pain. You glared at him. This was over the limit of your patience. "What the hell?! That was uncalled for!"

"I told you that you should always be here when I need you," he replied cynically.

"But not when my friends are around! What am I supposed to tell them now?!"

"Just say that I'm your boyfriend," he replied casually, making you blush crimson. "It's going to happen often if you keep on violating our terms."

"B-But... that's..." you stuttered. Your boyfriend?! No, that was way too sudden! Axel and Roxas would never believe that! "But... I have to work from eight to five everyday. I also need some refreshing! You're ruining my personal life this way!"

"I thought I was clear from the beginning," he said, inching his face close to yours. "You are mine. I can do whatever I want with you."

That came out wrong.

You knew he didn't mean it that way, but you still felt your face heating up in embarrassment. You looked down without saying a word.

He stood up straight. "Have you forgotten? You are my asset. You have to do everything as I said. If you do so much as going against it I can kill you anytime."

You bit your lip. As much as you fear him at first you somehow didn't feel scared of him anymore. That feeling was replaced with annoyance. Just because he managed to make a deal with you didn't mean he could treat you however he liked.

You shot him the best glare you could manage. "Then maybe we should revise the deal. You can only come to my house after seven in the evening on weekdays, and after three in the weekends. How does that sound?"

He narrowed his glare on you. "Now you're bargaining with me?"

"I will hand you to the police if you violate that rule," you pushed with your hands on your hips. He didn't seem the least bit shaken. Maybe you should start working on your glare.

He didn't respond and started walking towards you. You instinctively moved back until you hit the table. He pinned his hands on it, caging you between his arms. He looked at you, eyes glistened golden under the faint light from outside the window. "I see you've become a bit feisty."

You gulped. The fact that he looked very handsome even in a dimly lit room didn't help the situation.

He played with the tip of your hair. "You know, I can do something worse than just killing you. I can 'violate' you senseless."

The moment those words slipped out of his mouth you froze. Who would've thought someone as flat and monotonous as him could say something so... dirty? He could really mean it for all you knew. You just couldn't focus under his mesmerizing gaze.

You swore you saw a ghost of a smirk on his face. Seeing you blushing like mad and turning helplessly silent made him feel like he managed to dominate you. Satisfied with his little victory, he release his grip on the table and turned around to walk away.

He turned his head to look at you from the corner of his eyes. "I put my cloak on that table. It needs sewing. I'll come back for it tomorrow evening."

You snapped out of your daze to look at the table behind you. His black cloak was neatly folded on top of it. He must've came here earlier today before he went looking for you at the café.

You turned to say something to him, but he was already gone. The only thing left was the cold night breeze flowing through the wide open door.

***

You flopped on your bed. The warmth of your blanket felt nice compared to the freezing winter air outside. You snuggled into your comfy pillow.

You glanced at Saïx's cloak on the counter next to your bed. You had fixed it earlier after taking a bath. By the looks of the tear, it seemed like he got wounded again some time before he came here. Probably with a knife or some other sharp object. He didn't come to get his wound fixed though, so you wondered why.

The memory of earlier conversation flashed in your head. You blushed in embarrassment. It was true that you always thought that he had a charming and mysterious aura around him, but he felt a little different earlier. It really took you off guard.

Truthfully, you shouldn't even remotely be thinking like that about him, since you still loathed his job. You just couldn't help it.

A ring on your phone woke you up from your trance. It was a message from Axel.

_Are you ok?_

You smiled. You knew Axel would be worried. You texted your reply.

_I'm fine. Sorry for leaving you guys like that... :(_

Your phone rang again in less than a minute.

_Me and Rox got worried, we thought you were kidnapped..._

You chuckled.

_No, it's fine... Don't worry about me. I'm already home right now._

He replied again.

_Who was that guy anyway?_

You paused and stared at your phone for a moment. You felt your fingers dancing on top of the glass screen, but you couldn't exactly remember what you typed. When you knew it the message was already sent.

_He's my boyfriend..._

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything will turn a bit differently from this point on. We've had enough of his daily visits, no?
> 
> Let's pick up the pace.
> 
> And yes, I've thought about making Ansem your boss again since the beginning. I just like his character a lot.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	5. Friends and Foes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is **LONG.** Prepare for some action.

**Broken Fates**  
_—When nothing else feels right, just trust your heart._

**Chapter 5:** Friends and Foes

\---

Roxas was watching you intently from the front of your desk, hanging his head on top of your computer screen. He wouldn't go away for the last twenty minutes.

You sighed in defeat. "Seriously, Rox. Is it that hard to believe?"

"Of course it is," he said with an unbelieving frown. "A boyfriend? Really? You've never even told us about it. That's weird, especially for you."

You looked up at him, pausing your typing. "What? You think I'm so boring that I'm incapable of getting a boyfriend?"

"Well, no," the blonde trailed off. He looked away. "It's just too sudden. And Axel... I-I mean..."

Your frown deepened. Axel. He didn't reply your message after you told him that Saïx was your boyfriend last night. You didn't see him either since this morning, where he would usually be the one to greet you everyday. You somehow felt very guilty... mostly for lying at your best friends.

You sighed and took Roxas' hand in yours. You smiled at him. "Listen, I'm sorry I've never said anything to you guys. Our relationship is still a bit... complicated. I'll tell you someday when I'm ready."

"Promise?" he asked, his eyes pleading.

You nodded. He was always so adorable. Who could say no to that puppy eyes of his. It made your guilty feeling even larger.

He finally left your place after giving you a weak smile. You sighed. You really needed to talk to Axel. Honestly you didn't really know what possessed you to say anything like that in the first place. Axel was probably angry at you. You needed to sort this misunderstanding with him as soon as possible.

You scanned around the room. Roxas had already returned to his own desk on the far edge of the room. Axel's seat was supposed to be beside his, but his seat was empty. You silently wondered where he went.

The day went by slowly until the clock finally striked five. You packed your stuff and was ready to leave the office, if only Axel hadn't stopped you from doing so. He stood in front of you, his face void of expressions.

You nervously smiled at him. "Axel. Where have you been? I didn't see you at all today."

"Wanna walk home together?" was all he asked.

You hesitatedly nodded before following him. His expression seemed very serious. The two of you walked out of the building and started walking home together. The first ten minutes kind of passed in silence.

He finally broke it when you started walking past the park. "Never knew you have a boyfriend."

You nervously bit your lip. "Y-Yeah... I'm sorry I never told you. It kinda just... happened."

He didn't respond and kept walking. You racked your brain to lighten up the atmosphere. "Hey, Axe. Do you—"

"How long have you two been going out?" he cut you mid-sentence.

You answered, "Actually, we just got together pretty recently... Our relationship is still complicated. We're not officially... dating... yet."

You cursed yourself. If you decided to lie, why couldn't you make it a bit less unbelievable?

He looked to the other side, away from you. "Is he good? He seems rude yesterday."

You turned silent and fiddled with your fingers. "He's great. He's just... not good with strangers. Don't mind him."

"So I'm a stranger now?"

He abruptly stopped in his track and you had to do the same. You nervously looked at his face, which to your surprise, was very different from his usually bright one.

You had never seen his eyes glistened with such spark of anger and disappointment. You could only bit your lip in guilt.

He looked at you and scowled. "I thought we were friends."

You frowned. "Look, Axel. I'm very sorry—"

"That's enough, [Name]," he said, looking away. "I've heard what I need to hear."

You couldn't say anything else.

The rest of the walk ended up in awkward silence afterwards. He did drop you at your house, but he didn't say anything, not even a goodbye. You sighed as you entered your house.

You weren't even surprised anymore to find Saïx standing on the doorway inside, watching you closely.

He commented, "Had a fight with your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend," you clarified. You wanted to blame Saïx for inadvertently ruining your friendship with Axel, but you couldn't. You shouldn't be blaming anyone. You should only be blaming yourself. You put yourself in this situation.

He looked away. "Hmph. As long as he doesn't get in my way."

You shot him a glare. "Actually, I've told them that _you're_ my boyfriend. You can come pick me up whenever you need me when I'm not home from now on without raising questions."

He only looked at you emptily.

You sighed silently. This was probably for the best. You couldn't really let Axel and Roxas know the truth. You had sworn yourself that you wouldn't forsake their safety for your own luxury. This was a small sacrifice.

It was better if they weren't involved in this.

Saïx stood from his leaning position and walked towards you. He looked at you with his flaming yellow gaze. "What else have you told them about me?"

"Nothing," you returned his gaze. "They don't need to know anything about you."

"Good," he said, turning away from you. "By the way, I came here to take back my coat. Also, to take you on a job."

"What?" you asked, putting down your stuff on the couch. You picked up the coat from the dining table that you had prepared this morning and handed it to him.

He looked at you. "I want you to come with me tonight."

Your eyes bulged like saucers. "W-W-Wait! Don't tell me you want ME to do the assassination?!"

"No," he replied, eyes glued to your direction. "That's my job. I want you to do something else."

You sighed in partial relief. At least you wouldn't have to be seeing another dead body tonight... maybe.

"I need you to meet someone. She has all the information I need to get this job done." He sat on your couch, crossing his arms over his chest. "She will tell you what to do."

You gulped. So this person is a woman? You never knew there were females working with the organization.

He watched you stood silently before standing up to leave. "I'll pick you up at eleven sharp."

Within a second he was gone.

You held your hands in your chest. Your heart was thumping loudly. You didn't know what kind of job he wanted you to do, but you need to prepare yourself nonetheless.

You just hoped everything will turn out alright.

***

Saïx picked you up at eleven later that day. You had prepared your warmest clothes, for winter nights weren't as friendly as other nights. You still shivered despite having worn warm clothes. You wondered if Saïx had to go through this everyday.

He took an unknown path around the city. Everything felt strangely foreign when you walked through the parts of town that you never knew before, even though you had lived here for ages.

The two of you came out to the streets again and you recognized the area. You saw Aerith's garden down the road and smiled, until Saïx brought you towards its direction.

You gasped when you realized that he really was heading towards Aerith's garden. He pushed the wooden door open and the familiar ring of the bell welcomed you. The garden felt eerily different at night.

You walked in behind Saïx. He looked around before spotting a figure from inside. Aerith came out to your direction, her green eyes shining under the moonlight.

She looked surprised when she saw you. "[N-Name]?!"

"Aerith..." you trailed off, still refusing to believe that the kind woman actually worked with assassins.

Saïx eyed you, narrowing his gaze. "You know each other?"

The brown haired woman hung her head. "Yes. She visits me often."

You only looked at her, depraved of words.

Saïx crossed his arms. "Good, saves up time to introduce you two."

You walked towards her with a frown. "I thought you don't believe in assassins."

"I'm sorry, [Name]. Saïx told me he's going to bring someone to help, but I never thought it was you," she admitted sadly.

Saïx turned away to walk out of the room. He glanced at you. "I'll be leaving now. Aerith, take care of the rest."

She nodded before the assassin left.

The two of you stood in silence for a few moments. You finally took the liberty to break it. "Well, how long have you been working with them?"

"More than ten years," she said, walking to the small rattan chair where you would usually chat with her on Sunday mornings. You followed her. She sighed as she continued, "My father used to work for the government. He was involved in a fraud and caused a lot of bad rumors to our family. Due to some circumstances, assassins were sent to eliminate us. I was too young at that time, so they spared me and took me in. I became an informant in exchange for my life. It's a small price to pay for my father's past mistakes."

You frowned. You never knew about the burdens that she had to carry, even though you've known her for a long time. You felt like such a horrible friend.

"I'm sorry to hear that..."

"It's okay. I'm also sorry for lying to you." She smiled reassuringly. "What about you? I've been suspicious ever since you talked about it to me last week. How did you know Saïx?"

You bit your lip. You could finally talk to someone openly about this, but somehow, you knew that it wouldn't make any difference. She was in the same situation as you were.

Nevertheless, you started telling her your part.

She nodded in amusement. "I see... That's very weird. Saïx is one of our best members. He's usually very independent and secretive. I wonder why he let you get away so easily after kidnapping you."

You blinked at her. It felt weird having someone talk about you like an actual victim. "Hey, Aerith. What is Saïx actually like?"

"He's very quiet most of the time. Nobody really knows what he has in his mind," she tapped her long fingers on the oak table. "He seems to trust you, though. That's new. He usually prefers to work alone."

You only nodded. Honestly, you wanted to know about that, too.

Aerith stood up and motioned you to follow her. "Enough chit-chats. We need to get moving. Saïx will pull the sign soon."

You nodded and followed her deeper into the garden. You saw a small shack deep within the building and the two of you went inside. The shack was lit with a small light hanging on top of a table in the middle of the room. A man with silver hair and icy blue eyes wearing a black trench coat sat across of you.

Aerith introduced, "[Name], this is Riku. Riku, this is [Name], the person Saïx told us about."

He stood up and extended his hand. His smile was warm. "Nice to meet you. We'll be working together from now on."

You nodded and took his hand. You noticed a large scar mark on his arm, probably from a fight. You looked at him and asked, "Are you an assassin, too?"

"Yes, I am. I'm assigned to the same job as Saïx, but he insisted that he should go by himself." He shrugged. "Not that I'm complaining. He's best for this job. I'll go help from the other side instead."

You nodded in amusement. Judging by his character, you wouldn't be surprised if Saïx refused any form of help. But this Riku guy was different. Despite being an assassin, he had a more friendlier aura around him. Probably because he was younger, seeing from his looks.

Your turned to look at Aerith. "So, what am I supposed to do?"

She picked up a parchment roll from a drawer on the side of the room and sprawled it across the table. It was a blueprint of a house... or mansion, judging from the size of it.

"Listen, [Name]. Our target tonight is a psychopathic serial killer who goes by the name of Vanitas. From the information I gathered, he is working on an experiment of human replica. He uses his victims as materials for this experiment," Aerith paused. "This is dangerous and forbidden by any law and religion. We must stop him by any means."

"We've been tracking him for ages," Riku added, clenching his fists. "We caught him once, but he escaped. Now that we've found him we can't let him get away again."

You felt your palms sweating as you saw how serious they were about this. You dared to ask, "Why aren't you leaving this to the police if he's really that dangerous?"

"Some things can't be handled by the police, [Name]," Riku explained, looking at you. "The world isn't as white as you think. Sometimes being stuck in jail isn't enough to heal the sickest of minds. We're just... doing what the rest of the world couldn't. Taking the dirty job."

You bit your lip nervously. You were wrong about thinking that the assassins only killed for money, but you still couldn't fully trust them. You still thought that humans weren't supposed to decide whether a person should die or live. The thought was nauseating.

Aerith continued, "Either way, [Name], let's get down to your part of the job. Look here," she paused to point to a certain part of the map. "There are guards all over the place. This is where it's least secured. Saïx requested that you distract them while Riku disconnects every cameras around. This will create an opening for him."

"That's it?" you asked, feeling relieved for some reason. At least it sounded the easiest. "All I have to do is distract them, right?"

"Can we trust you on this?" Riku asked, sounding a bit concerned.

"I'll try..."

"Be careful, [Name]," Aerith said weakly, sounding just as worried.

With a nod, you followed Riku out of the garden and onto the streets. After a five minutes walk to another foreign area of the neighborhood, Riku pointed to a big house by the end of the road.

"That's the house he's supposed to be living in right now."

You looked at it in awe. It looked much bigger in reality than in pictures. "Surprisingly big for a fugitive."

"He moves around a lot," Riku explained. "This is probably not his own house for all we know."

The two of you moved a little closer and Riku told you to hide behind an empty house by the side of the road. He examined the area before taking a deep breath and looked at you.

"I've seen Saïx's signal. Listen, your area is on the right side of the house, near an old garage. Just keep the guards busy while I try to get in from an opening into the control room," he paused to look at you one more time before slipping something in your hand. It was a small silver blade. He smiled. "For protection, in case anything happened. Let's do this!"

You clenched it around your fist and nodded nervously as you started to walk on the streets. You tried your best to look as casual an unarmed as possible. You couldn't fail on your first real mission.

You quietly walked towards the spot you were assigned to, careful not to alarm the other guards around the area. You saw two people standing in front of the gates near the garage, like Riku said. You noticed that there was a small crack on the wall beside the fences, which would fit for a person to pass through. That was where Riku was probably planning to sneak in from. You took a deep breath and marched to their direction.

The guard noticed you approaching them. You shyly looked at them and asked, faking a tone, "Good evening, Sir. Mind if I ask you some help?"

The first guard seemed interested in you. "What is such a pretty lady doing so late at night?"

The second guard mused. "Are you lost? It's not safe wandering around alone."

You noticed movement from the corner of your eyes. Riku had started moving. You turned back your focus to the guards. "Actually, I am. I was going to go buy something from the market but I got lost. Seems like I don't really know the area too well yet."

The first guard leaned in closer to look at you from head to toe. "Where is your house, lady? Maybe we can _escort_ you there."

"Or would you rather spend some time with us for a while?" the second guard added, eyeing you nastily.

If you weren't in an undercover mission you would've probably punched the lights out of their sunshines.

Behind them you noticed that Riku had finally managed to sneak in from the hole on the wall. You grinned in victory, it seemed like you had done your job pretty well.

Now it was time to deal with these buffoons.

"No, no, I just need you to show me the way. I live on Traverse Street. Is it that way?" You pointed to a random direction.

"No, lady," the second guard said with a chuckle. "Let us big brothers show you the way, hehehehe."

"We promise it will be fun," the other guard added.

You had enough. The blood in your veins popped and you were ready to punch them senseless, if only a loud roar of siren didn't echo throughout the air.

You alarmedly looked around, fear rising to your face. You noticed a panicked looking Riku running towards a certain direction while looking at you, shouting, "[Name]! It's a trap! Run, run as fast as you can!"

"Riku!" you shouted back.

"Intruders!" the guards said in unison. The first guard glared at you. "You! You're with them! Capture her!"

You didn't even had the time to think as you quickly ran as fast as your feet could take you. Unfortunately, the guards from the front gate already noticed you and started running towards you from every direction. You stopped to think in panic. What were you supposed to do now?!

You saw an opening between the fences and spontaneously sneaked in. You mentally hit yourself. Now that you were inside the house it would be easier for them to capture you.

You ran with no specific direction as you sneaked into the house from the backdoor when you were sure no guards were following you. You figured that it would probably be safer inside since the guards were looking for you outside. You walked through the halls silently, eyes scanning for a sign of familiar faces.

The inside of the house was huge but eerily normal. It was dark with no lights turned on. Everything was neatly placed, but it felt empty. There were frames hung along the walls, but they were mostly just pictures of random people.

You noticed a stair leading to the second floor. You nervously looked around. Should you go up? You contemplated. It was probably safer to keep moving, so you decided to try and roam the second floor of the house.

You nervously wondered where Saïx and Riku were. Riku was probably still outside, either eliminating or distracting the guards. Saïx... well, you didn't know. He could already be inside the house for all you knew.

The sound of siren could still be heard from inside the house. The weird thing was, it felt unnaturally calm, like nobody actually lived there. You wondered if all this was actually a ruse and you fell into his trap.

You were just going to walk into a room by the stairs when you felt a hand across your mouth. An arm was gripped across your neck, blocking the air from your throat. You kicked around in panic, but it was in vain. The person was too strong.

You heard a chuckle from behind your neck. "So, it seems like a rat has wandered lost into the lion's den."

You fought back, trying to get rid of his hands. It was getting really hard to breath.

You took out the knife that Riku gave you and stabbed the side of his arm. He screamed in pain, releasing his grip on you. You fell to the floor and tried to catch your breath.

He pulled his hand off the wounded area and saw his own blood falling to the floor. You noticed that he was a young man with dark, spiky hair and piercing yellow eyes. Was this person Vanitas?

He flashed you a smirk. "I see someone's here to have fun."

You shrieked as you suddenly felt a cold sting across your left cheek. He kicked your stomach hard, sending you flying across the room. You coughed blood. The wound on your cheek started to burn. Tears welled in your eyes as the pain started to thicken.

The man laughed, licking a blade with your blood on it. "I'm surprised anyone can get this far. What business do you have here, little lady? I don't often have guests."

You only shot him a glare. You gripped your blade tightly in your hand.

"Did you come alone?" He walked closer to you. He tilted his head. "Or did you bring a friend?"

You crawled back on the floor. Apparently you sprained your right leg when you fell. You weren't sure if you could stand up straight even if you tried.

"Are you not going to say anything?" He raised his blade in the air, twirling it between his fingers. "Then might as well not come at all."

He raised the silver object to the air and was ready to stab you, if only someone hadn't sneaked in between the two of you and blocked the attack.

You opened your eyes and gasped. "Saïx!"

"Stay away from her!" he barked, slamming the man's blade with his sword and pushed him back. You had never seen him use a sword before.

The dark haired man laughed as he looked at Saïx. "Oh, if it isn't Saïx. I haven't seen you in ages. I see you're well." He leaned sideways to peek at you behind Saïx's form. "So that girl is yours? You have good taste in women, I see."

"You won't run away this time, Vanitas," Saïx glowered, ignoring his comments. So that person really was Vanitas.

"Let's see about that," Vanitas mocked. "You promised me that bullshit four years ago and, walah! Look at me, I'm still here."

"But not today!" the blue haired assassin exclaimed, charging forward with his sword.

Vanitas quickly countered it with his own blade. The clash caused a loud ringing noise as you watched in horror. He was inhumanly fast that your eyes couldn't follow his movements. You couldn't even feel the pain on your cheek anymore when suddenly Vanitas slid behind Saïx and cut his right leg. Saïx made a pained noise.

You gasped. "Saïx!" With the last of your strength, you shouted at him, "Hey, you! Stop doing that!"

Vanitas turned his attention at you. He smirked. "You want to change his position, then?"

Vanitas charged at your direction, but was stopped by Saïx. The dark haired man clicked his tongue when Saïx managed to slice open his other arm. He jumped back in retreat.

"I told you to stay away from her." Saïx glared at him. "Your opponent is me."

Vanitas snickered. "What's this? The stoic Saïx is actually having a soft spot for a woman."

He was ready to charge at Saïx again, but he saw cops parked in front of the gates, their siren screaming loudly. He clicked his tongue in annoyance as he smirked at the other man.

"I'm sorry." Vanitas walked backwards to the window. "But our little charade has to end prematurely. I will see you again." With that, he jumped out of the window and escaped.

"Wait!" Saïx ran towards the window but he was too late. He cursed under his breath. "Shit... he ran away."

He noticed you coughing in pain. He quickly kneeled beside you and asked, "Hey. Are you alright?"

You tried to nod but you coughed again. Your stomach still hurt from the impact. You looked at his leg. "You're hurt..."

"You're hurt, too." He grabbed you by the shoulder and pulled you up. "Can you walk?"

"I don't know..." you weakly breathed out.

Riku came running into the room. His eyes wide when he saw you. "[Name]! What happened?!"

"Vanitas attacked her," Saïx explained. "That son of a bitch."

Riku helped carrying you from the other side. He looked at Saïx. "I've cleared an escape route. We should get out of here quickly."

You didn't really remember what happened afterwards. You faintly heard Riku calling your name multiple times, begging you to stay awake. But your eyes felt heavy and tired, you lost consciousness not long after you escaped from the building.

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Axel is genuinely worried about you. He's sort of like an overly protective older brother, or a jealous first love sort-of-guy, who is butthurt that his dear childhood friend is keeping secrets from him.
> 
> I dunno, if I feel like it I probably will make a double ending for him lol  
> He's growing on me.
> 
> Anyway, this chapter was really fun to write. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I do.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	6. Between Two Sides of a Coin

**Broken Fates**   
_—When nothing else feels right, just trust your heart._

**Chapter 6:** Between Two Sides of a Coin

\---

You blinked and groaned. Your vision was blurry and your head was spinning. You tried to turn your neck but it felt painful. You flipped your body to the side and tried to study your surrounding.

You were lying in a bed inside a room surrounded by white walls. Various medical utensils were sprawled on a table across your bed. You also noticed that your hand was infused through a transparent tube.

A hospital? You wondered how you got here. Your memory was a bit scattered. You tried to retrace. You remembered being at home before Saïx took you somewhere. You were taken to one of his mission... and you saw Aerith and Riku. Right, you had to cause a distraction for them to sneak in. You remembered the plan failing and you somehow got inside... and then...

Your eyes turned wide as you sat up straight. You remembered. You were attacked by Vanitas. You probably would've died if Saïx wasn't there to help you. You didn't really remember what happened after that though.

The door clicked and someone came into the room. You jerked, feeling unreasonably paranoid. You relaxed a bit when you realized that it was none other than Saïx.

"You're awake," he said and you nodded at him. He sat beside your bed and looked at you. For once, he actually looked worried. "How are you feeling?"

You tried to answer him but what came out was a raspy groan. Your throat felt sore. You faintly remembered how Vanitas had strangled your neck during his attack.

Saïx handed you a glass of water and you quickly shove it down. You coughed. Even swallowing felt painful.

You flinched when Saïx raised his hand to touch your left cheek, where a nasty gash was visible across your skin. It would leave a painful scar to remind you of this traumatic experience.

"I've faked your sickness and wrote that you're currently out of town for medication. None of your colleagues will be suspicious of your absence for the time being," Saïx explained.

You sighed and let your head fall back to the pillow. You hoarsely asked, "How long have I been out?"

"More than ten hours."

You looked at him, trying your best to make your voice sound stable. "Is your leg okay?"

"You should be worrying about yourself first," he replied, taking his hand back to his lap. He took a moment of silence to stare at you. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you back there."

You looked at your throbbing right hand. It was bruising. You probably hit something when Vanitas knocked you across the floor. "It's alright. It's a part of the deal."

He didn't respond, as usual, but his gaze felt softer than it usually was. He looked like he was about to say something, but kept it to himself in the end. He stood up and started walking towards the door.

You called out to him, "Wait!"

He stopped in his track, but didn't look back at you.

You gripped the sheets in your hands and looked down. "Don't leave. I don't want to be alone."

He didn't do as you wished though, as he only replied, "You need to rest. Your wounds haven't completely healed."

And with that he left you alone again.

You frowned. Sometimes you couldn't understand him at all. One moment he seemed like he cared, but another he seemed like he was a stranger to you. It felt like he was holding something back, yet afraid to show it out.

You started to drift away as your mind strayed to various things. Had Saïx watched over you the whole time you were unconscious? Was he the one who took care of you?

You never found the answers to those question as you quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

***

You woke up with a jump. Your eyes searched the dark room. Someone had turned off the light and it made you feel scared. It sort of reminded you of the traumatic events as you unconsciously screamed in fear.

Saïx slammed the door open and ran into the room. He kneeled beside your bed.

"What's wrong?"

You cradled your head, tears streaming down your face. You didn't know why you did that. Maybe the shock had done worse to your mental state than you realized.

Saïx gently shook your shoulder. "Are you alright?"

You calmed your mind and shook your head. Nothing was going to happen. Vanitas was not here. He couldn't harm you now.

You took a deep breath, wiped your tears, and looked at Saïx in determination. If you decided to get involved with him, you had better toughen up and get used to situations like this. You had a feeling this was going to happen quite often. You lied to him, "I'm okay. I just... had a nightmare."

He scrunched his face at you. Of course he wouldn't believe that.

You fiddled with your fingers, hanging your head in shame. "S-Sorry. I must be such a useless asset, am I? I'm not surprised if you decided to kill me one of these days..."

There was silence afterwards.

He raised his hand to touch the edge of your hair. Your cheeks were dusted pink as he looked at you. "No. You were brave. If you didn't distract him back then he would've caught me off guard."

You opened your mouth slightly in awe. You didn't know praising was even in his vocabulary. You turned away in embarrassment.

"If you don't want to stay here I can arrange your release tomorrow," he continued, earning your attention.

Your face beamed with excitement. "Thank you, Saïx."

You swore you saw his expression change when you said his name. He stood up and walked outside the door. He paused to click on the switch, turning on the lights in the room. He glanced at you from behind the doorframe. "I figured you liked it better this way."

He left after closing the door. You smiled weakly. Maybe he did have a good side in him somewhere. You honestly liked him better that way.

***

You were sent home the next afternoon. Riku came in the morning, bringing a bouquet of flowers with him. He apologized for making you suffer even though you had done your job splendidly. If you didn't know any better you wouldn't even guess that this gentleman was actually an assassin, too.

Saïx dropped you on your porch. You requested that he stay for a while, but he refused and left just as soon as he came. You were a bit disappointed, since you really wanted to do something to thank him for his kindness—like cooking him his favorite stew—but you figured that he probably wouldn't want any of it.

You walked upstairs to your room. Even though you had only been away for a day you felt relieved to be home again. Your whole body was still aching and you felt tired, but you noticed your phone ringing nonstop so you had to take a look.

There were multiple messages from Axel. You frowned, still feeling guilty about lying to him. Even though he was obviously angry at you, he still spent time to worry about your well being. The thought involuntarily brought tears to your eyes.

_What happened?_

_I heard you're sick. You should've told me so I can bring you medicines and food..._

_Where are you?_

_You there? You're not answering my calls..._

_Are you scared that I'll get mad again? I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said any of that yesterday. That was rude of me..._

_Please don't ignore me..._

_Why aren't you answering my calls?_

_[Name]?_

You wiped a tear falling down from your face. You needed to talk to him. The heavy feeling was starting to become a burden and you couldn't take anymore of it.

You texted your reply.

_Axel, I'm alright. I was feeling sick and went somewhere quiet, is all._

You took a deep breath and continued.

_Can we talk?_

***

Axel came to your house not long after you requested to see him. He brought you lots of food when he came. You initially told him that you could meet him at the park or somewhere else closer to his place, but he insisted that he should be the one to come over since you were sick.

The first thing he did was fussing over the wound on your cheek and the bruises on your arms and legs. You had forgotten all about it, so you had to think of another lie.

"I was feeling dizzy and I fell and hurt myself," you reasoned. "That's why I don't feel safe staying in my own house while being sick. My house has a lot of stairs."

He frowned, rubbing around your infected area. "You should've told me about this."

Silence wrapped in the air for the next minute.

Axel cleared his throat. "Listen, [Name]. About what happened... I'm really sorry. I had been an ass. I really shouldn't be judging you like that."

You shook your head. "Axe, I told you it's fine. I'm also at fault here. I know I have been hiding a lot of things from you lately... A lot of things happened and they are not just things that I can discuss with anyone, not even you. I'm really sorry."

He shrugged. "Hey, come on. Let's get over it."

You shook your head. "Still, I shouldn't be treating you like a stranger. You're my best friend. Best friends don't keep secrets from each other like that."

"Then you should introduce him to me and Roxas," he added. "We deserve at least that."

"I will," you said with a smile. "We should hang out together sometimes."

"Yeah, that would totally be cool,"he replied with a bright grin.

Another moment passed by in silence. Axel moved closer to you and raised his hand to touch your unwounded cheek. You felt your heart rate rising as he looked at you with his shining green eyes. A spark of something you had never seen him show wavered in his gaze. His thumb rubbed against your cheek as you felt heat rising to your face.

He suddenly stopped his movement and let his arm fall limp to his side. The look in his eyes changed into that of regret as he turned away from you.

You couldn't see his face when he walked out of your front door. "You should get some rest and get well soon so you can come back to work. Roxas misses you a lot, you know." He glanced at you from the corner of his eyes. "I'll see you later, partner."

You could only watch as he disappeared behind the closed door. You hand flew to where his hand had been on your cheek. You could still feel his warmth there.

You blushed as you remembered the look in his eyes. It wasn't the same look that he usually gave you. You never saw that look before. You silently wondered why he did that.

You noticed movement from somewhere outside the glass door facing to the backyard. You spotted Saïx standing hidden on the side of the wall, watching you with his blank, expressionless eyes.

You glowered at him. "Were you spying on me?"

"I came back to reconsider your offer for dinner," he said, letting himself in an sat on the dining table, watching you closely. "He seems to really like you."

"What? No," you replied, waving a hand in the air. "Our relationship isn't like that."

Saïx stared at you silently. For some reason you knew deep in your heart that you were denying the fact, but you refused to believe otherwise. He suddenly asked, "Do you love him?"

Your eyes widen at his question and embarrassedly looked at the floor. "I only see him like a good friend, or an older brother. I do care for him, but that's just as far as my feelings go."

Saïx didn't comment and only continued to stare at you. Sometimes his habit could make you feel really uncomfortable.

"I see," he finally said, looking away.

The two of you didn't say anything else to each other for the rest of the day after that. He left right after finishing his dinner that you prepared for him. You threw yourself on the bed and sighed to yourself.

Too many things had happened in such a short time that you couldn't really make up your mind on which one to focus on. Your head felt dizzy as the pain in your stomach started welling up again. You curled in your bed. You started to question your decision to get out of the hospital so soon. Maybe you should've stayed a bit longer.

Your tiredness dragged you into exhaustment as your mind drifted into a peaceful slumber.

Maybe tomorrow everything would be a bit better.

_To be continued...._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I feel really sad knowing that I have to reject Axel at some point in this story, if I keep on choosing to have this fic end with a single ending.
> 
> Dat feeling I can'tttttt
> 
> But either way I still am going to keep it with a single end. I've dedicated this fic to Saïx's character after all, I can't betray him now.
> 
> I'm sorry Axel fans. At least his feelings for you were genuine. :3
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	7. The Forgotten History

**Broken Fates**  
_—When nothing else feels right, just trust your heart._

**Chapter 7:** The Forgotten History

\---

Riku tapped his fingers on the edge of the long couch, a worried look plastered across his face. He sighed. "Are you sure? I'm still worried about her."

"She's fine. I'll be keeping an eye on her," Saïx replied, not once taking his gaze off the newspaper.

"But still," Riku said again, narrowing his eyes. "He's seen her. Don't you think he could be putting an interest on her?"

"He won't," Saïx persisted, turning his attention to the silver haired assassin. "Not on my watch."

Riku could only frown as another figure bounced into the room, breaking the momentary silence between the other two. The spiky haired person, who looked eerily similar to Vanitas, frowned as he noticed the gloomy atmosphere.

"What's with the long faces?" he asked, bobbing his head to the side.

"It's Vanitas," Riku replied. "We couldn't track him anymore since he escaped."

"Oh," he briefly responded. He looked at the floor angrily. "I knew I should've been the one to go after him..."

"Don't think about it too much, Sora," Riku said, giving him a light tap on the shoulder. "You've had your share of things to worry about. He is, after all, your replica."

Sora frowned even deeper. "But I can't just stay here while he runs around killing innocent people..."

Riku shrugged and looked at him sadly. "There's nothing we can do about it. Let's just leave it to Aerith for now."

"I guess so." Sora sighed before turning around to face Saïx, raising an amused brow. "By the way, what about the girl? You know Xemnas isn't gonna be thrilled when he hears that you brought a civilian during your mission."

Riku chuckled, shooting a playful smirk towards the blue haired assassin. "She ain't so bad, actually. Too bad Saïx laid eyes on her first."

"Really? I wanna see her!" Sora exclaimed joyfully.

Saïx rolled his eyes. How did he even managed to work with these idiots in the first place?

"Say." Sora turned to look at Saïx. "Where is she now?"

***

You rolled around on your bed for the millionth time. Bored was an understatement as you wearily sighed at the seemingly un-moving clock on your bedroom wall.

Axel had stopped replying to your messages earlier, probably because work hour had already started. You were absent again today since your whole body still felt sore. You couldn't go anywhere else either and was just stuck at home.

This was your third day not going to work. Despite worrying about your papers piling up at your desk, you were still not quite allowed to go back to work. Saïx warned you not to get out of your house until the wound on your cheek at least started drying. He didn't want people to become suspicious of you as he feared that it might lead to him one way or another.

You glanced at the balcony. You wondered if Saïx would drop by today. At least if he did you wouldn't have to spend all day alone in boredom.

And like the speak of the devil he was, he appeared out of nowhere on your balcony, lightly tapping the glass with his fingers.

You felt ridiculously excited as you bounced off the bed, ignoring the slight pain on your sprained leg. You opened the door and smiled at him, trying hard not to look so happy to see him.

You watched him as he stepped inside. "It's something that you came in broad daylight."

He stopped to glance at you. "Were you expecting me?"

You wanted to nod your head but shook it instead. You swore you saw the edge of his mouth curl up in a smirk as you tried not to blush.

He sat on the edge of your bed, his favorite spot. "Too bad though, it wasn't me who wanted to come and see you today."

You raised your brow in confusion, but your question was answered right when you saw a head pop up from behind the rolling door to your balcony. The moment you saw the stranger's face you jumped back and fell to the floor. The horror in your face was enough to make the person bounce into the room and wave his hands in a defensive manner.

He quickly refuted, "Wait! Don't be scared! I'm not gonna hurt you!"

You only stared at him in fear and disbelief, until Saïx walked to your side and knelt beside you. "Relax, he's my colleague. They may look alike but I can assure you he is not Vanitas."

So, this person was also an assassin? You wanted to believe what he said, but the trauma still had not left your mind. You looked up at him to study his face further. He was looking worriedly at you. He had the same spiky hair, but it was a lighter brown in color, and his eyes were deep blue. He looked exactly like Vanitas, but something that felt like a certain childlike innocence differentiated them greatly.

The stranger walked closer to you. Despite noticing you flinching in fear he extended his hand and smiled. "My name is Sora. I came all the way from the headquarters just to see you."

You looked at Saïx. He gave a little nod of approval and you nervously reached out to his hand. It was warm.

He grinned sheepishly. "I know, you must be really confused."

Saïx helped you stand back up to your bed and sat beside you. Sora found your chair and sat backwards on it, facing you.

He sighed. "I'm sorry about what happened to you. You must be really shocked."

You glanced sideways at Saïx. He seemed to not be paying attention to any of you as he stared outside the door. You snorted. "Honestly, this isn't the first time I got shocked. I probably can't even be surprised by anything anymore by the end of the year."

Sora laughed at your cynical humor. "I can see why. How the hell do you even know him in the first place?"

You rolled your eyes. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"I'll let you know that he usually isn't that merciful," he said with a smirk. "Then again, he's probably also shocked that someone caught him wet handed while on a mission. He's always had his job done cleanly."

You narrowed your eyes. So this guy knew about your history with Saïx after all.

"Anyway, let's get back to our topic," he straightened his seat. "I'm not supposed to talk about this with any other person outside the headquarters, but I just think it's fair to let you know at least. You're still a victim, after all."

You returned your attention to him.

"I'm sure you know who Vanitas is," Sora said again.

You grimaced at the mention of his name. The memory of the scar he left would be embedded forever in your mind.

Sora continued, "He may appear as a normal living being, who acts and feels the way we do, but he is not actually a real person." He paused and searched your gaze. "He is a replica of myself."

You blinked in disbelief. A replica? Wait, if you remembered correctly, Vanitas became a fugitive for his attempts to recreate humans by making a replica. If he was a replica himself, then recreating humans was actually scientifically possible? What was his goal then?

Your gaze returned to Sora, eyes wide and unbelieving towards the seemingly fake story that could've come from a pretentious sci-fi movie, but the look in his eyes told you otherwise.

He stood up from his seat and walked towards you. His hand hovered above the wound on your left cheek, not having the courage to actually touch it. His blue eyes were tinted with regret. "I'm sorry you had to experience that. It must be terrifying. The reason I came here," he paused, letting his hand fall limp to his side, "is to apologize to you in his behalf."

You only stared at him with your mouth agape. He might look exactly the same as Vanitas, but he was like an exact opposite of him. You never would've expected to see such honesty from this face.

He smiled sadly. "I let so many people fall victim because of my weakness. I feel obliged to apologize to everyone, including you."

Saïx was only silently watching everything. He didn't even show any change of expression. You wondered what you should say to Sora. Their world... was much too complicated for you to understand.

You looked up at him and dared to ask, "Who created Vanitas?"

Sora's expression turned dark for a moment before quickly replaced by his ever present smile. He tilted his head towards Saïx. "Maybe he can explain to you about it."

Without waiting for Saïx's answer, he bounced towards the door and glanced at the two of you. "I guess I should go now. It's nice to meet you, [Name]." You silently wondered how he knew your name. He saluted Saïx with two fingers. "See you back at the HQ."

And with that he was gone, leaving you and Saïx alone again.

You glanced at the assassin with confused eyes. Sora's visit was way too sudden and you couldn't exactly process what he was talking about. You looked at Saïx in hope that he could at least enlighten you a little.

He only looked back at you. "He wouldn't shut up until I take him to your place."

"He seems like a nice guy," you commented. "But it would be nice if you could give me a hint or two about what exactly is going on. Who is Vanitas? What happened to Sora?"

"You don't need to know."

You frowned. Somehow you knew he'd say something like that.

You bit your lip, asking another question that had been running in your head for a long time. "Are you going to go after Vanitas again?"

Saïx nodded weakly, but didn't say anything.

You frowned at him. "As much as I hate you I'm honestly worried. Stop working by yourself and appreciate others' help. If you didn't disregard Riku's help last time you probably would've caught him."

Saïx mildly glared at you. "Would I? I can't risk to fail for this mission. Vanitas is too much of a threat to all beings in existence. That abomination doesn't even deserve to exist."

"Well, look where your ego had brought you," you said and rolled your eyes. "You lost him."

"I wasn't strong enough," he reasoned.

"You're plenty strong," you replied with a glare. "No human is ever made to live alone. You need others to survive. Friends make you even stronger."

"I don't need anyone to help me with this," he persisted. "I can eliminate him by myself."

"Why do you like working alone so much?" You sighed when he didn't answer, locking your gaze into his. You repeated the question you asked some time ago. "Why did you become an assassin?"

He only stared at you, his eyes shining golden under the warm sunlight. You thought he wasn't going to answer like he did back then either, but he turned his gaze away from you and said, "Because I had no choice."

You followed his gaze. "What do you mean?"

There was a gap between your question and his answer. "Do you think I choose this kind of life myself?"

You silently listened.

"I used to live in a peaceful neighborhood with my family," he said, returning his gaze to you. "Until they were all brutally murdered to become a part of the human replica experiment," he paused and touched the prominent scar mark between his eyes. "This is a proof of that memory. I was the only one who managed to make it out alive."

"Human replica..." you breathed out. It couldn't be...

"Sora. He was the test subject that they were turning into a replica," he continued, narrowing his gaze. "He was barely alive after the experiment, but I managed to rescue him and helped him escape."

You listened with wide eyes. He looked at the floor. "But they already got what they needed and continued the experiment without him. The experiment succeeded and the first human replica was created."

You bit your bottom lip nervously as you mentally guessed.

"You're right, it was Vanitas," he said again, looking at your direction. You gripped the edge of your sheets. You had so many questions but didn't dare to interrupt as he continued, "The government found out about the experiment and banned it. The scientists that worked on the experiment were all sentenced to death. They ordered to eliminate Vanitas as well, as his existence is violating the laws of nature, but he managed to escape on his execution day. He has run around the country trying to revive the experiment by himself ever since."

You could only stare at him in awe and disbelief as he stared back at you. You opened your mouth to say something but nothing really came out. It was all really too much for you to take in one day.

He sighed and looked away. "I don't even remember how we ended up in this part of the city. We pretty much had nothing else to live for. We lost our home, our family. We didn't even care if we died on the streets one of those days. That was probably when I began to be rather untrusting towards anyone. I only trust myself, and that was how I survived," he paused to look at the ceiling. "But it all changed when Xemnas, the head of the assassin order, found us that day. We saw the chance to avenge our family and comrades who have fallen during the experiment, so we took his offer to become elite assassins."

He paused for another moment, taking a deep breath. "We've found him once four years ago, but because of my weakness I let him slip off my fingers. That was the first time we lost him. And now I failed again when we had the chance to kill him the second time."

You suddenly felt the urge to hold his hand. You felt him flinch under your touch, but he continued nonetheless. "I don't even know how many lives I have taken in all those years. I've already failed everyone twice, I can't risk to do it again. I can't fail to avenge my family. Not anymore."

You tightened your grip on his hand. Was that the reason he was so eager to kill Vanitas by his own hands? You still didn't like his way of avenging his family, but somewhere deep down, you knew how he felt. All this time, he was fighting alone. There was nothing he could really do to rid himself of the suffering he felt for so many years.

He hesitatedly pulled his hand away from your grip and stood up, walking towards the door. He was going to leave without saying a word—like he usually did—but this time, you couldn't just let him do that. You stood up from the bed and followed behind him, embracing him in a hug.

He stopped in his track and flinched. His whole body was tense, but you didn't care. You tightened your hug and weakly said to him, "I'm sorry."

He was silent for a moment before he replied, "What are you sorry for?"

"For not trying to understand you," you said again, releasing him from the embrace. You looked up at his back. "For not being there when you need me."

It took a while for him to turn back and face you, his golden eyes glinting with sadness. He took his hand up to touch the wound on your cheek, and traced it down to your hand. He raised it and gently kissed the back of your palm, tinting your face with shades of crimson.

He muttered under his breath, but you could clearly hear it in the silence between the two of you, "He will pay for this."

He left you stunned as he quickly jumped off the balcony and disappeared from your view. You took the hand that he kissed to your chest, feeling a sudden heat to your face.

Maybe that was when you started seeing him in a whole different light.

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit difficult, but I still had fun writing it.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	8. Allies From the Other Side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suddenly lost my writing mojo but hey it came back. Let's party.
> 
> Warning! Long chapter with lots of action.

**Broken Fates**   
_—When nothing else feels right, just trust your heart._

**Chapter 8:** Allies From the Other Side

\---

You chewed on your steak nervously as you looked at the redhead sitting diagonally across of you, who was glaring daggers at Saïx for no apparent reason. Even swallowing your food felt difficult in such a tense atmosphere.

You somehow managed to talk Saïx into going for lunch together with Axel and Roxas at Twilight Café on two weeks later. You thought it would be proper to formally introduce him to your best friends if you were going to keep faking your relationship with him. Having Axel being angry at you once was enough.

Axel looked like he could throw his fork to the assassin's direction any moment. He narrowed his eyes. "So, how did you two meet?"

Luckily, you had discussed this with Saïx earlier. You had prepared the scenario if Axel would start asking questions and told him to leave this to you.

You tried to calm down and sound believable, taking a sip of your coffee. "We met at the bar. We talked a bit and kinda clicked with each other. He was suddenly head over heels for me, and asked me out right there and then."

You glanced at Saïx, who looked like he was about to choke on his food and throw up. The look on his face was priceless, but you tried not to laugh. Truthfully, you didn't really ask for his consent about the made up story between the two of you.

Axel was throwing a dumbfounded look back and forth between you and Saïx. Maybe you went overboard, but you couldn't miss this opportunity. It wasn't everyday you got to make fun of the emotionless assassin.

Roxas was the first one who managed to ask, "Seriously?"

"Go ask him yourself," you pointed your chin towards Saïx, earning a creepy glare from said person.

"Any other day and I wouldn't believe this," Axel finally responded with a shook of his head and eyed Saïx suspiciously. "I'm questioning your taste for girls."

You threw a ball of tissue at him like a bomb. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

Axel dodged it and ignored you. "I bet you don't even know she snores like a bear and eats like a pig."

"Axel..."

"Oh, and she's loud and obnoxious. It's obvious enough if you still can't see it."

You flushed, feeling your vein pop. "Axel, I'm right here."

"Extra info," he paused and twirled his fingers near his temple, crossing his eyes. "She's a bad drunk."

_"AXEL!"_ You threw a spoon at him.

"I can understand," Roxas commented with a laugh, ignoring the two of you fighting. He played with the straw of his strawberry milkshake. "It's hard to believe someone as quiet as you is interested in [Name]. She isn't even that much interested in dating before, so we're kinda shocked to see you dragging her away right in front of our eyes that day."

You noticed Saïx rolling his eyes at you, which you deliberately ignored.

"He's shy, but trust me, he's rather possessive and gets jealous easily," you pretended to clarify, feeling Saïx's glare boring a hole on the side of your head. He was probably going to literally kill you after this, but hey, it was worth it.

"Is that so?" Axel asked with a huff. You felt him stare at you for a moment before looking away. "But no one can keep my best friend away from me forever."

You flinched at his words. You saw a flash of his green eyes meeting yours before he threateningly looked at Saïx.

Axel put his arm on the table and leaned forward. "If you ever do so much as make her cry, I'll kill you."

The atmosphere suddenly changed. You didn't dare to look at them, but you somehow knew Saïx was also glaring at him intently.

He kept his gaze on Axel. "If anyone's going to make her cry, it's probably you."

Axel twitched. "You're awfully confident. I'll let you know that I've known her much longer than you do."

"I know, but at least I'm making progress rather than just dwell on the sidelines with wishful thinking," Saïx responded again, earning a surprised look from everyone on the table, including you.

You felt a mild blush creeping up your face. Did he just... challenged Axel? You definitely didn't expect him to play along with your game. Even though your relationship was fake, you couldn't help but feel like he was defending his territory, like he was actually fighting for you.

Or maybe it was just his ego.

Either way, you couldn't tell.

You could never be so sure about this guy.

Axel huffed again and crossed his arms. You swore you saw a blush shading his cheeks, but you decided to ignore it.

You felt Roxas lightly tapping your arm. You looked at him as he frowned and whispered, "What's going on between them?"

You couldn't help but giggle and playfully pinched his cheek. "You'll get it someday, Rox."

***

You parted with Axel and Roxas and had Saïx walk you home afterwards. You told him that he could go back to the headquarters but he chose to stay until late. It became sort of a habit for him to escort you nearly everywhere ever since that incident.

He started coming to your house more often. You knew he probably did that to prevent Vanitas from targeting you--which you were thankful of--but sometimes you couldn't help but think he simply did that for free food and comfy bed, as he kept repeating about how bad the food and beds were back in the headquarters. It made you wonder what kind of place it was and you braved yourself to ask him in the middle of a movie.

"Hey, Saïx," you called, twirling the remote in your hand. You cringed when you heard the thunder outside. It had started raining cats and dogs as soon as you finished taking a bath earlier. "What's the headquarters like? Is it big?"

He didn't take his gaze off the TV but he shook his head.

You scrunched your brow. "Really? How many of you guys are there? I imagine it would feel like... a stuffy refugee camp."

He didn't answer for a while, eyes glued to the screen. "You're not wrong. It really isn't as grand as it sounds."

You silently wondered about his answer. You realized that you never really knew where he lived. Where had he been all those time when he wasn't around?

You asked again, "If you don't like it that much then why do you keep going there?"

He glanced at you from the corner of his eyes. "As much as I don't like that place there's really nowhere else I can go."

"You live there?"

He nodded.

You furrowed your brows and frowned. "Do Riku and Sora live there, too?"

"I told you," he paused. "We pledged our loyalty to the organization. Most of us who worked as an assassin don't even know who our real family is. The HQ is like a safe haven for us. As uncomfortable as it is, it's still home."

You looked down at the couch. You recalled Saïx's story about his past. Did all of them had similar experiences? You never knew. "Just how many people do you kill every day?"

"Our missions aren't just about murdering people," he replied, finally facing you. His eyes reflected colors from the rapid flashing of the TV screen. "Our jobs vary from time to time. Information gathering, spying, patrol... We're an elite unit, not mindless killing weapons."

You blushed in embarrassment. Of course, why didn't you think about that. Did you really think they run around all day just to kill people unreasonably?

"You sound like the FBI," you muttered, pulling your legs up to your chest.

"Think of us like the extreme version of them."

You couldn't help but laugh, though you were pretty sure it wasn't meant to be a joke.

For a moment the only sounds you could hear were the TV and the roaring thunderstorm outside.

You sighed as you glanced at him. He was watching the movie intently. You frowned, suddenly wondering why he trusted you so much. You remembered how he was always cautious around you and threatened to kill you all the time, but now the two of you were being comfortable with each other, so far as having a movie night together. You never really could figure out what was actually in his mind. Maybe it was just his was of showing his guilt after the incident with Vanitas.

You were going to question him more but a loud banging on the balcony door stopped you from doing so.

Saïx quickly jumped off the couch and ran towards the door. You nervously followed behind him. He opened the curtains to reveal Riku standing outside in the middle of the rain.

Riku slid inside as soon as Saïx opened the door. He looked at the two of you in panic. "Bad news, guys... Saïx, you should come to the headquarters now."

"What is it?" the blue haired assassin asked, eyes filled with tension.

"It's Vanitas." Riku glanced at you, noticing you flinching upon hearing the name. "Aerith managed to relocate him, but now he got her. Vanitas kidnapped Aerith."

What...?

"That son of a bitch--" Saïx quickly turned around to pick his coat.

"Weird thing is," Riku added again before Saïx could do anything further. "He's still lingering in town. Normally he would've escaped with his trophy, but he didn't. He's still after something..."

Silence enveloped the room for a moment, before Saïx and Riku both landed their gazes on you. You gulped nervously.

" _You!_ Of course it's you he's after, [Name]!" Riku suddenly exclaimed, shaking you by the shoulder. "How can we not see it!"

"Then there's no time to waste," Saïx said as he grabbed his coat on the couch. He turned to look at you. "You stay here. Don't go out of the house until we come back."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a moment," Riku held him back. "Is that wise? Leaving her here alone is like offering a live bait!"

"Are you suggesting we take her with us again? Have you forgotten what happened last time?" Saïx asked angrily.

"Well, do you have a better idea?!" Riku asked back, throwing his arms in the air exasperatedly. "Vanitas is after her. The only place even remotely safe right now is probably the HQ."

Saïx contemplated for a moment. You nervously bit your lip. They were planning to bring you to their headquarters? Was that even allowed? You remembered Sora mentioning how secretive the assassins were. Even Saïx initially wanted to kill you for catching him red handed. Wouldn't it be like a suicide mission to take you right into their den?

Saïx looked at you for a solid ten seconds before turning his gaze back to Riku. He sighed defeatedly. "Fine. We'll take her to the HQ."

Riku nodded, though he seemed quite unsure himself with this decision. The silver haired man looked at you apologetically. "I'm very sorry, [Name]. You'll have to be dragged into this all over again."

You wanted to tell him it was fine, but your mouth felt too dry to talk. If the order decided they didn't want you in their HQ, this would probably be your last night alive.

You cut yourself off from the dwelling. Aerith was in danger, and you couldn't waste time worrying about yourself. As much as you were still angry about her lying to you, she was still your friend. God knew what Vanitas would do to her if they didn't rescue her as soon as possible.

You quickly took your raincoat and followed the two assassins out of the house. Saïx helped you jump off the balcony to the backyard. The heavy rain made it difficult to see, but you tried to keep up your pace not to lose sight of them.

Saïx led the three of you through a path foreign to your memory. You never knew that route before, so you tried to stick close so you wouldn't get lost. It was difficult to keep up with Saïx and Riku comparing their speed and stamina.

Riku looked back at you, making sure you were still in eyesight. "Keep it up, we're almost there."

You were going to nod in relief at him, when you suddenly saw a flash of silver flying just mere inches from your left cheek. A blade stuck on the wall by your side. You shrieked and stopped running. Saïx cursed and turned around, trying to cover you under his coat.

"An ambush!" Riku exclaimed. "Darn it! We're so close! We have to find another way in!"

Two men clothed in dark robes jumped down from the roof. They were wearing masks so you couldn't see their faces. Saïx and Riku took out daggers from beneath their cloaks and charged forward to their direction.

You could only watch in horror as they fought. Saïx moved so gracefully that he almost seemed like dancing as he stabbed the attacker on the back of their neck. Riku was no different. Despite being half blinded by the rain he managed to steal a victory.

Saïx grabbed you by the waist and climbed up to the roof, forcing you to hold onto him or risk falling. You could already see a group of robed men dashing toward you with inhuman speed. Saïx ran across the roofs without any trouble--with you still hanging for dear life on his back--proofing that he had done this countless times before.

Riku moved closer and shouted, his voice disappearing under the roaring thunder, "We can't go to the HQ! We should find another safe place!"

You heard Saïx clicking his tongue. His grip tightened around your legs. "They're not attacking us," he muttered. "They're trying to lead us somewhere. We have to find an escape route."

"I'll distract them," Riku said again, glancing back towards the chasing men. "[Name] will be our priority. You take her somewhere safe!"

"No, wait!" you raised your voice, making sure they heard you under the roaring of the rain. They didn't have to do this. Compared to the issue at hand, your safety was the least important. "I'll do it! I can distract them! You guys have an important mission to catch Vanitas. I'll just be a burden to you! I can stay behind and be a bait!"

"Stop saying depressing stuff like that!" Riku scolded, shocking you. "I'm the one who suggested that you come with us! If anything happens to you I'm the one responsible!"

You stared at him in shock. Even in situations like this he was still such a gentleman. You mouthed him a silent 'thank you', though you weren't sure if he saw it or not.

Saïx gave Riku and approving nod. "We're counting on you."

Riku replied with a confident grin. He stopped running and turned backwards, throwing hidden blades at the enemies behind, stopping them in their tracks.

Saïx took the signal and jumped off the roofs, running zigzag through and over buildings to hide his track. After a few minutes of twisting and sliding into corners, he finally decided to stop at an empty building. He put you down and let his feet rest for a while.

Even though you barely did anything you could feel his exhaustment. The rain washed surface of the roof was very slippery and he managed to keep his balance all that time, with you on his back as extra weight. He must've had a lot of training to be able to do that so well.

Saïx glanced at you from the corner of his eyes. His breath was starting to become steady. "Are you alright?"

"I should be the one asking," you silently replied. "You're amazing."

"I don't deserve that compliment." He looked down at his feet, letting his rain damped hair hide his face. "At this rate we'll lose Vanitas again. I took my guard down... and he took Aerith with him."

"See? You're blaming yourself again," you said with a sigh, walking closer to him. You took his hand in yours and pulled it to your chest. "This isn't anyone's fault. Vanitas is a cunning schemer. Things like this is bound to happen, sooner or later."

There was silence for a while, before you felt Saïx free his hand from your grasp, letting it crawl up to your face. His cold fingers traced your jawline. You looked up to meet his golden gaze, shining dimly under the minimal lightning.

"You offered to sacrifice yourself back there," he recalled the events where you suggested to stay behind. "I can't let that kind of courage get wasted for nothing."

You felt a blush creeping up your face as it warmed even in the cold temperature. That was probably the first genuine compliment he ever gave you. You gave him a weak smile and whispered a silent thank you.

"Aerith wouldn't want you to die, either."

You frowned. "I hope Aerith is okay..."

The moment was broken when you heard a slow clap from behind one of the abandoned buildings. Saïx quickly jumped up and took a defensive stance, readying himself for an attack.

The attack never came, instead, a mocking voice followed, "What a heartwarming scene. I'm shedding tears!"

You would recognize that tone anywhere.

Vanitas.

Vanitas came out from the shadows, revealing himself with his demonic grin. "And, yes, your precious Aerith is fine. I have enough courtesy not to touch her... yet." His eyes rolled over to your direction as he gave you a fake bow. "We meet again, miss, as I promised."

You flinched. As much as you felt completely healed physically, it seemed like the trauma still left a few holes in your mind. The events from that night played in your memory like fire, making you scrunch your eyes close in paranoia.

"What do you want from her, Vanitas?" Saïx asked, his voice filled with malice.

"I could ask you the same," Vanitas said with a smirk. "What do _you_ want from her?"

Your eyes went wide.

"You're not like how I remember you, Saïx. You used to be ruthless, merciless... hateful. On what purpose are you suddenly fighting so hard to keep her alive?" he taunted.

You bit your lip. You used to ask the same question, without earning any answer. It was brought back to your mind... Why didn't he kill you?

"She is my asset," Saïx said coldly, not once taking his gaze off Vanitas. He stretched his arm protectively in front of you. "What I do to her is none of your concern."

The replica laughed. "A tool, huh? Be careful not to get too attached. Affection is a sign of weakness, trust no one but yourself... Isn't that what you used to live by?"

"Enough talk," Saïx said as he stepped forward, unsheathing his blade from under his cloak. "Your time is up, Vanitas. This time I won't let you get away."

"Running from the topic again, I see," Vanitas commented mockingly. He straightened his pose. "Fine. I'll see if you'll keep your words this time."

And just like deja vu, you watched in horror as the two clashed blades once again. The sound of clanging metal rang like thunder in your head. You watched as Saïx's blade swing against Vanitas', and each time it made you cringe in fear.

Vanitas laughed mockingly as he slid beside Saïx, attempting to wound him. "Yes, that's it! Show me more of that hate! That's the Saïx I know!"

"Shut up!" Saïx dodged Vanitas' attack and retaliated woth a heavy swing of his blade. "I swear I'm going to kill you tonight!"

Saïx ran over to the wall behind him and parkoured skillfully, before bouncing toward Vanitas' direction. Vanitas was caught off guard as he was pushed backward after the attack. Saïx took no time to waste and attempted to land another hit, but Vanitas was quick enough to recover from the delay and dodged his attack, countering with a swing of his blade and wounded Saïx's left arm. Saïx groaned in pain. With a swift movement Vanitas ran around and toward Saïx from behind and swung his blade with all his might, leaving another scar along Saïx's right side.

Saïx let out a pained cry as he took a step backward. You could see blood running down the cloth of his robe and down to the ground. You called out his name but he didn't even look at you. He ran back toward Vanitas to clash blades once again.

You let your back hit the wall. You were worried about Saïx. You knew how quick and strong he was, but he was probably already exhausted from running in the rain carrying you. If this situation continued, Saïx could...

Vanitas let out maniacal laugh when he managed to push Saïx down to his knees. He was ready to swing his blade in a final blow...

...When someone managed to stop him by holding his arm. Vanitas quickly turned his face up to see who it was.

A tall, dark skinned man with long silver hair stood above Saïx protectively as he guarded him against Vanitas' attack. Vanitas looked surprised as he pulled his arm out of the grip and jumped back a few steps. The look on his face was something very foreign than what you were used to remember. There was fear... if you dared say.

"Superior..." you heard Saïx mutter.

You watched carefully as Saïx slipped a respectful nod. This person must've been the assassin's leader.

The mysterious person stepped forward as he glared at Vanitas, his amber eyes glowing under the flashing of thunder. His voice was low and deep when he said, "I knew I should've handled you myself."

"Long time no see, old friend. Good to see you well," Vanitas mockingly greeted.

"Likewise," the Superior replied coldly. "And I shall make sure this will be the last time you see me."

Then, faster than your eyes could process, the Superior ran across the building towards Vanitas and landed a powerful hit on his abdomen, catching him off guard. Vanitas was thrown across the floor with a muffled scream.

You saw Saïx return to his feet and followed his Superior to attack Vanitas. Despite being wounded, he was still swift as ever. You could see how Vanitas was starting to have a hard time fighting the two of them at once.

"Just give up, Vanitas," Saïx growled. "You know you don't have a chance against us!"

"Do I?" the replica mockingly challenged. For a split second you swore you saw him smirk and glanced at you, his eyes glowing in the dark. You felt shiver ran down your spine. No... was he...?

Your nightmare came true as Vanitas swiftly dodged and countered both Saíx and his Superior's attacks despite being on the losing end. He jumped on a broken balcony and started to dash toward you. Sensing yourself in danger, you quickly moved your feet to get away from him.

Saïx noticed what Vanitas was after and yelled, "Stay away from her!"

Vanitas ignored him and kept running for you instead. You heard his malicious laugh. Sweat starting to form on your forehead as you desperately tried to find shelter from this madman.

Much to your dismay, your feet hit a stray stone--possibly from the building's ruins--and you fell over to the ground. You let out a shriek. Saïx saw you and started to panic. He yelled again, "No! Vanitas, don't you dare!"

You tried to stand back up as quickly as possible, but before you actually managed, Vanitas already caught up to you. He roughly grabbed your hair and pulled you up, looking victoriously at Saïx and the Superior. He threatened, "Take one more step and she's dead."

The two instantly stopped in their tracks. The look on Saïx's face was of pure rage. You whimpered pathetically, feeling your hair being forcefully stretched out of your scalp. Tears rolled down your cheeks as you looked at them with pleading eyes.

"Let her go. She has nothing to do with this," Saïx said, the glow in his eyes changed.

"Nothing to do?" Vanitas let out a sarcastic laugh. "This woman tried to harm me just a few weeks ago! You brought her there!"

You saw the Superior giving Saïx an outrageous look, but the blue haired assassin ignored it. He didn't take his gaze off Vanitas for even a second. Right now the only thing he was concerned about was your safety.

"You have a lot to explain later, Saïx," your heard the Superior mutter. Saïx didn't reply, but he looked tense. You closed your eyes in fear. Now that the leader of the assassin order knew about your involvement with Saïx, there was probably no more chance for you to survive.

Vanitas pulled on your hair harder, earning a pained scream from you. With another maniacal laugh, Vanitas grabbed you by the waist and tossed you over his shoulder. You shrieked in fear. With a swift move, he jumped up to the roof out in the rain, leaving Saïx and the Superior flustered.

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to cut our little chat short again," the replica mocked. "Farewell!"

You faintly heard Saïx's voice calling for you and Vanitas, but it soon disappeared, drowned by the roaring thunder and the heavy pouring rain. You screamed and fought back, trying to get free of his grasp, but he was much more powerful than you were. You felt a sharp pain on the back of your neck as Vanitas hit you, lulling you to unconsciousness.

Soon everything went dark as your body limp, taken away by Vanitas into the cold, rainy night.

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot deepens from this point on, so buckle up. If you have any critics or suggestions please do let me know.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	9. The Great Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More action packed chapter! This time you're the star. You go girl!

**Broken Fates**  
_—When nothing else feels right, just trust your heart._

**Chapter 9:** The Great Escape

\---

_"What in the world have you done, Saïx?!"_ a loud yell rang through the halls of the headquarters.

"Calm down, Superior," Riku pitifully attempted to ease the raging assassin leader.

"Calm down?" Xemnas, the Superior, glared at him. "Minimum contact with a civilian is our number one rule. But bringing one in a mission? This is outrageous! And _you,_ Saïx, of all people! What have gotten into you?!"

The blue haired assassin stayed silent. He hadn't spoken anything since they returned to the headquarters.

Xemnas sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I seriously can't figure out, but since this is you we're talking about, I'm sure you have your reasons. I'm just going to let it slip for now." He glanced at Riku. "Let's talk about the more important matters in hand."

"Uh, yeah... About Aerith, we still can't track where Vanitas has hidden her," Riku said nervously. "But we do have another lead."

"What is it?"

"I managed to put a tracking device on [Name]'s raincoat just before we leave her house. If Vanitas took her to the same place where Aerith was..."

"Brilliant, Riku!" Xemnas proudly slapped his back. "I knew I could count on you!" The Superior began to walk out of the room. "Start tracking! Gather everyone available and meet me in my quarter. We'll leave at dawn."

Riku frowned as the Superior disappeared into the halls. He then looked at Saïx, who still hadn't talked nor moved from his spot.

Saïx delivered a quick questioning glance at Riku. "Tracking device? I didn't even notice."

"I did that just in case... Never thought we'd actually need it." Riku admitted. He then lightly punched Saïx's arm. "She'll be fine."

To be honest, Riku knew that he was fooling no one. Nobody really knew what was going to happen to you. The best they could do was pray for your safety.

***

You blinked and tried to adjust your vision to your surrounding. You head thumped loudly and it felt heavy. Your legs felt sore, like the pain from before came back.

After you could clearly see, you examined your surrounding. You were laying on the floor inside a small and empty white room with no doors, a giant glass window stood facing you, separating you from some kind of a lab room on the other side.

You panicked as you ran toward the glass, knocking viciously. You called out, but no one was there. You felt shiver ran down your spine. You remembered Vanitas taking you—kidnapping you—and bringing you somewhere. You blacked out before you could figure out anything.

You tried to calm yourself down and think, letting your back hit the side wall and sliding down to the floor. You glanced around one more time. You were probably kept in Vanitas' hideout. Was this where he did his experiments?

After letting yourself sink into the silence of the empty glass room you heard noises. It came from behind your back, from the room beside yours. You quickly turned around and pressed your ear to the wall, knocking in hopes someone would answer.

"Hello! Is somebody there?"

There was no answer.

You frowned from disappointment. Could it be just your imagination? No, you clearly heard something from the room next to you. You were going to knock one more time when you were greeted with a knock from the other side.

"Hello?" you faintly heard.

Someone was there! Thank heavens the room wasn't soundproof!

"H-Hello?! Can you hear me?!" you excitedly asked.

There was no reply. Could they not hear you?

"Oh my god... Is someone there?!" you heard the voice finally said.

You silently thanked god. "Yes! Yes! Are you a prisoner, too? Please, tell me where I am!"

"I know where we are..." the voice, which sounded like female, said again. "And we can both try to escape."

"How?" you asked, looking around the room. The room was mostly empty with no doors like the first time you looked. How exactly would you try to escape?

"Look at the glass window," she said as you turned to look at the direction. "See that small block on the right edge of yours? That's the key. Our locks are connected. If we can find a way to get it opened..."

You definitely saw that small white block sticking out from the right side of the window. It was easily missable if you didn't look closely. She must've been here a long time to be able to notice it.

"But what are we supposed to do?" you asked.

"That is a fingerprint lock, but during my time here I've been examining it. Seems like there's a flaw on its mechanics. If we can alter it a bit..." the voice trailed off.

She found out about things like that with such a limited access? She was something. Either that or she had been here for too long.

"Okay, what should we do then?" you asked. If she really could help you out this might be a good opportunity.

"Do you have something sharp and small?" she asked.

You searched your pockets and found a bobby pin. These useful little things. "Yes, I have."

"Good. Now look at the side of wall close to the lock. See small ventilation holes there? That's our escape route."

You examined the wall closely and found the holes. Very small, but big enough for straightened bobby pins to squeeze into. "Found it."

"Alright. Now's the tricky part," she said. "We both have to do it at the same time or it won't work. There is supposedly a loophole on the circuit. We'll have to fill that space with our bobby pin to open the lock."

She said bobby pin. There was no way she would know that you were using one. Wait... maybe she used one, too?

You inserted your bobby pin into the hole to feel the blank space. After a while of turning and moving, you felt your pin hit a space that go deeper. You instantly knew that was the loophole you were looking for.

"I found it!"

"Good, I found mine too." You could hear the glee in her voice. "In the count of three we push it inside, okay? One, two..."

You steadied your fingers.

"Three!"

As the pin slid inside, you heard a click and the glass door slid open. You couldn't help but jump happily before running out of the small room. Your neighbor slash partner prisoner also jumped out at the same time, but man, did you not expect to see who it was.

It was Aerith.

"[Name]?!" she asked with a gasp.

"Aerith?! Oh my god, it's you!" You jumped to glomp her. A feeling of relief washed over your senses. It felt so good to see her well. "How long have you been here? I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Me, too!" she replied and returned the gesture. "I haven't been here very long. But why are you here? What happened? Are the others alright?"

"Vanitas kidnapped me, but the others are alright." You smiled at her. "I'm just glad to see you okay."

"Trust me, I do too." She grabbed your hand. "But we don't have much time. We have to get out of here quick before someone sees us!"

You gave her a firm nod before the two of you started moving.

You silently got out of the lab room. There was a hall next door, connecting to various rooms that you didn't know what of. Thankfully Aerith seemed to know what she was doing. Well, she was a spy as well as informant, so she must've had her ways to gaining informations. Either way you were glad she was the one you ended up being kidnapped with.

Aerith did something with another lock connecting to a room and it opened. She used a similar technique like you did before, but with both hands. You looked at her in awe. She managed to find a flaw on a lock in such a limited time and access. Maybe you should ask her to teach you her advanced lockpicking skills.

When she pulled her hands back you noticed her holding bobby pins. You raised a brow and looked at her. "Bobby pins? I guess we both used the same thing, then."

"What?"

"You said bobby pin back in the locked room, too. I thought you had some sort of psychic power," you jokingly commented and laughed.

"Really? Must've said that unconsciously," she returned the laugh. "Bobby pins are handy. You should keep some just in case."

"So, where exactly are we?" you finally asked as you entered the room.

"This is Vanitas' hideout. Call it his headquarters. This is where he does his experiments most of the time." Aerith looked around to make sure nobody was there. "Good thing is he doesn't like to hang around for long. He's probably out somewhere."

You sighed in relief. That was one thing out of your mind. You wouldn't know how to react if you had to face him one more time. You glanced at Aerith, who was busy trying to crack the password to some sort of supercomputer.

"Why did he kidnap you?" you asked.

"Well, no one knows what's in Vanitas' mind, but the most logical explanation would be because I'm the informant as well as strategist," she paused to nervously laugh. "I'm the most powerless, yet the most powerful, in a sense. Of course he'd be after me."

"You're amazing, Aerith," you praised. "Just so you know, Saïx and Riku kind of lost it when they find out you were missing. They seem to care about you a lot."

"Really?" she faked an expression. "I thought they'd be happy. No one's gonna scold them if I ain't around."

The two of you laughed.

The computer made a sound and Aerith clapped gleefully. "I did it! I'm going to enter their security system and find a way for us to escape."

"Ay, to think that my best friend is actually an adept assassin. This is still rather unbelievable," you commented with a smile.

Aerith returned your smile. A faint guilt framed her beautiful face. "Look, [Name]. I know I've said this before, but... I still feel guilty whenever I think about you. I can't apologize enough for lying to you about being an assassin."

"Come on, let's get over it," you said with the sincerest smile you could manage. "I've forgiven you. I'm still against taking people's lives no matter what they did, but you have your reasons. I can understand."

Aerith muttered a thanks, but was cut off by a group of men clothed in white robe barging into the room. You tensed as they shouted at your direction, "Prisoners unleashed! After them!"

Another one shouted, "Block all exit!"

"Oh no!" Aerith shouted and grabbed your arm. "Quick, run!"

You were both fast enough to escape the room before the white robed men managed to block the only way out. Siren started to yell loudly as you followed Aerith across the halls, the men still hot on your trails.

"I only had a glimpse but I know where the exit is!" Aerith exclaimed. "This hall will end up in two paths. We'll have to split up to prevent getting caught!"

"Is that really a good idea?!" Getting lost would be your number one problem, especially if you were left alone in this god damned labyrinth without a guide.

"You take the right path!" she commanded. "If I remember correctly you'll end up in the freezer room. There's a ventilation window that connects to the main hall, the exit should be close. We'll meet up there!"

Freezer room. That sent chills down your spine. "What about you?!"

"I'll distract them! If I'm not there by the time you arrive go on without me!" she smiled and pushed me to the right path when we reached the junction. "Best of luck to the both of us!"

You looked back worriedly at Aerith, but you didn't waste much time. You gave her a firm nod and started running towards the right hall. Aerith could take care of herself so you should be more worried about yourself and try not to be a burden.

You ran as fast as your feet could take you. More white robed men came out of the rooms in front of you. You gripped your fists and avoided them, sliding across the floor like in the movies. You didn't know how you did that, but it worked. You managed to escape the first line of barricade.

"After her!"

Their shouts sent chills down your spine. You didn't dare look back and kept running. The next wave of barricade came and you racked your brain for a way to escape. You had zero experience in combat so there was no way that you'd fight them. One of the men tried to crash run into you and you panicked. You managed to grab his hand before he hit you, and somehow dragged him to run along with you. The man tried to claw at you, but you ducked and zigzagged each time and successfully avoided his attacks.

You saw a door with a lock on the end of the hall. That must be the freezer room, if Aerith was right. You kicked the robed man's left leg to make him fall and pulled his hand forward to press it on top of the fingerprint tab, using it to open the lock to the door. You didn't take the time to celebrate your victory as you quickly ran inside the room as soon as the door slid open.

Your breath hitched when you took a good look inside the room. It was a dark room, illuminated only by minimal blue LEDs. What shook you the most were the glass tubes, filled with frozen human bodies.

You gulped as you ran across the room, not having the courage to look at them. They were probably victims of the experiments. This was the outcome of his failed projects, the proof of Vanitas' cruelty. The reason why he should be stopped.

You shook your head from the thoughts. Right now you had to focus on getting out of here. You had to find the window to the ventilation pipes. You searched high and low, left and right for any sign of the window. It was dark, so it was difficult to see anything.

You heard the men finally caught up and barged inside the room. They were splitting up, definitely looking for you. You hid yourself behind the tubes. If you had difficulties to see, they should do too. That gave you a chance to sneak around unseen.

You carefully stepped behind the glass tubes while searching for the window. Each time one of the men were close, you stopped to hide. You sensed their frustration when they didn't manage to find you and you commend yourself for hiding so well.

After a while you finally found the vent window on one of the walls. You quickly sneaked close and attempted to open it. Unfortunately, you pulled a little too hard and the window fell to the floor, making a really loud noise. You cursed.

"There she is! Get her!"

With all your might you crawled up into the pipes. You could see from the ventilation holes under you when you reach certain rooms, but you didn't spot Aerith in any of them. Fear started to well inside your chest, but you pushed forward. You looked back to check, and of course, the men were still after you. You fastened up your pace, trying hard not to get caught. It was difficult to crawl in such a small space, but either that or you'd end up getting caught and be the next victim of Vanitas' experiment.

After what felt like forever you finally reached the end of the pipes and kicked the window off. You jumped out and looked around. This was definitely the main hall and you could see the exit door on the front, but you still didn't see Aerith anywhere. She told you to leave without her, but there was no way you could do that. Not after everything she had done to help you escape.

You tried to stall while distracting the men. A new problem appeared when not only robed men appear, but armed men also. You shivered in fear. No way, Vanitas would never order them to kill you. You were supposed to be a lure for the assassins so he needed you alive. They were probably here just to threaten you from escaping... right?

The thought went over your head when you heard one of them shoot at your direction. Whether they accidentally or deliberate missed was beyond you. Either way, if you wished to stay alive you really needed to find a way to get out of here now.

"[Name]!" you heard a voice calling you.

"Aerith!" You ran towards her direction while avoiding shots. She was on the other side of a barred door. You cursed, "Stupid doors!"

"We need to open it!" she shouted. She was holding a gun. God knew where she got it from. "Can you do it? It's the same like the other locks in this facility! I'll distract them!"

You gritted your teeth and nodded at Aerith, who had started shooting the men from behind the locked door, protecting you.

You took a deep breath and picked out two bobby pins from inside your pocket and started imitating what Aerith did. You put it on both sides of the lock and started feeling for the blank space.

You felt someone grab on your shoulder and tried to hit you, but Aerith was quicker. She shot him right through the head and killed him on the spot. You stared wide eyed in shock.

"Are you okay?!" Aerith asked, busying herself with more of the attackers.

You only managed to nod. Witnessing someone got shot right in front of your eyes was not something you see everyday. It was quite a shock.

You shook your head and returned your focus. Now was not the time to be thinking about stuff like that. You returned to your mission. The pressure made it even more difficult than it already was, but after what felt like eternity you finally felt the pin slide in and a click was heard. The lock was opened and Aerith quickly ran out the door.

"Good job, [Name]!" she shouted. "Come on, we have make a run for the door!"

You followed closely behind her as the two of you ran toward the front door. You were so close on reaching it, when one of the men pointed his gun at your direction.

You saw Aerith calling your name to alarm you, but the man already pulled the trigger to his gun. You braced yourself for the pain—and probably death—but it never came. You opened your eyes and looked up, only to be met with warm golden eyes you came to know so well.

"Saïx?!" you asked in disbelieve.

He narrowed his eyes. "[Name], stand back."

Saïx had miraculously shielded the shot with his blade and saved you from imminent death. He charged forward to kill the man. He then advanced to kill more of them, rage hot in his eyes. You could only stare in shock and awe. You had been so close to near death experience.

Aerith ran towards your direction. You also noticed Riku, Sora, the Superior, and a bunch of other assassins you didn't recognize following behind Saïx to join the battle. Riku and Sora saw you and immediately took you outside the building.

"Riku! Sora! Everyone!" Aerith called out with a sob. She must've felt relieved, just like you. She wiped her tears from her eyes. Amazing how she could be so powerful and daring at one moment and gentle the next. "How did you find us?"

"I put a tracking device on [Name]'s coat," Riku said before reaching to the hood of your raincoat that you almost didn't remember you were still wearing. "I really never thought we'd end up relying on it."

"Brilliant job, Riku," Aerith commended.

"I'm just really glad both of you are safe," Sora said with a smile and patted your head. He then turned to look at Aerith. "By the way, how did you managed to escape so far? You could've done it even without us." Sora smirked proudly. "You ladies really are something. Tell me your secret."

You and Aerith looked at each other and laughed, earning a confused look from the two guys.

Aerith giggled. "There is really only one secret..."

And the both of you said together, "Bobby pins!"

***

The team managed to wipe out almost the entire army of Vanitas' men before all of you made your grand escape. Luckily, none were badly injured. You escaped via airship owned by the order and flew back to the assassin's headquarters.

Along the way back Riku and Sora stayed by your side, repeatedly asking if you were hurt. You were thankful for their concern and kept saying that you were alright to them, but your focus really was somewhere else. You couldn't help but steal glances at Saïx, who had been leading the battle. You wanted to talk to him and thank him, but he was always by the Superior's side and you never got a chance to even get close to him.

It was already dark when you arrived at the headquarters. This was the first time you were here. The headquarters looked just like any other building in town, probably to avoid catching unnecessary attention. Everyone jumped off the airship and hurried inside. You entered the building and found yourself in a big room, probably some sort of living room with couches and a table on the middle. Riku told you to sit down.

Everyone was silent, and you noticed all of them looking at you. Except Saïx, he was looking away for some reason. You gulped and felt the tense atmosphere. Now that the assassins found out about your connection to Saïx and Vanitas, god knew what they'd do to you.

A tall, dark skinned man known as The Superior, if you remembered correctly, stepped forward and said, "It seems like we have a lot to discuss, young lady. [Name], was it?"

You shivered from his voice. It was deep and intimidating.

"But first let me introduce myself," he continued. "I am Xemnas, The Superior. I am the leader of this order."

Xemnas. So that was his name.

"I've been hearing things about Saïx keeping a woman, and worse, taking her into his missions." He kept his cold amber gaze at you. "May I be so bold to suggest that it was you?"

You bit your lip. No point in lying now. You just had to accept what it takes. "Yes."

Xemnas didn't say anything and just looked at you for a long time. You gulped and shivered under his stare. He definitely could kill with that look.

"Come one, Boss. Cut her some slack. She helped Aerith out, isn't that enough of a deal breaker to let her go?" one of the assassins with an eyepatch suddenly said, earning looks from the other members.

"S-Shhh! Xigbar!" Sora nudged him.

"Superior," another voice called. It was Aerith. "Please, spare her. I know [Name]. She won't tell a soul. Besides, Xigbar is right, she's helped me escape. I wouldn't make it without her."

You glanced at Aerith and mouthed a thank you.

"Yes," you heard Riku said. "I know I'm in no place to say this, but I must agree with Aerith. [Name] won't be a threat to us. You can trust her."

"She's as much of a victim as the rest of us," Sora added.

You glanced at both of them and smiled. You found it sweet how they tried to defend you.

Xemnas didn't even bother to glance at them. He was about to say something, but you heard Saïx cut him off.

"Superior, if anyone is to blame, it's me. She has nothing to do with it. Please, let her go."

You felt your body tense. Saïx...

"Yes, stupid Saïx is to blame. Everyone knows how thick his skull is. He does stuff without thinking first," the eyepatch guy—Xigbar—said again, earning another nudge from Sora.

" _Xigbar!_ Goodness..."

"I am prepared to face the consequences. Just, please, let her go," Saïx said again. "I will take full responsibility."

You looked at Saïx, but he was avoiding your gaze. You frowned sadly. Would you ever get a chance to talk to him?

After what felt like forever, the Superior finally sighed and said, "Fine. I will let her go."

Everyone let out a relieved sigh.

"Under one condition. She has to work with us."

Gasps of surprise was heard from all over the room, including you.

What?! Work with the assassins?!

Aerith sensed your shock and tried to come up with something. She knew how much you hated assassins. "Superior, there must be another way..."

"It's the only way to ensure she keeps our secret safe."

You bit your lip. That was it. There was probably no way to change the Superior's mind now. You dodged the possibility of having to die, but in exchange...

"She will work as an informant under Aerith. Aerith, I'll leave her in your hands," the Superior commanded. "You will start working tomorrow morning. Dismissed."

"Superior!" Saïx called out before Xemnas disappeared into the next room. "May I speak with you?"

The two of them went out of the room and disappeared behind the door. You missed yet another chance to talk to him. You wondered whatever he wanted to talk to the Superior about...

Sora ran over to you and hugged you. He was looking genuinely worried. "[Name]! I'm sorry..."

You patted his back. "Sora, it's okay. You guys did your best. Thank you for defending me." You laughed nervously. "I mean, this is much better than having to die."

"Saïx is talking with Xemnas," Riku patted your head. "He'll figure something out. Don't worry."

You smiled. Whatever would you do without them.

Xigbar, the assassin with the eyepatch, walked to your direction and examined you from head to toe. He whistled. "I haven't gotten the chance to take a good look at you, lass, but now that I do, I can see why Saïx is trying to keep you for himself." He took your hand and kissed the back of your palm. "A pleasure to meet you, [Name], my name is Xigbar."

"Now you're trying to charm Saïx's woman? Have some decency, you bloody old fag," another person said. He was a gentlemanly looking guy with a thick accent and classy beard.

"Luxord, my man. We are going to be comrades soon. I'm simply introducing myself."

Luxord narrowed his eyes and looked at you. He clearly didn't trust you, if anything. "She is just a normal person, as far as I can see. What does Saïx see in you?"

"It's not everyday you see Saïx the stoic gargoyle being head over heels for a lady. You must be special, lassie," Xigbar commented. "I wonder if I can make him jealous, hmm?"

You waved your hands in front of your face. "Actually, you got it all wrong. Me and Saïx aren't in that kind of relationship..."

"You've been the talk of the headquarters for the last few weeks," another foreign voice said. You turned to see a man—or woman?—with soft rose colored haired. His blue eyes narrowing at your direction. "What kind of woman managed to crack that tough nut? Is what everyone is asking." He then sent you a charming smile. "My name is Marluxia, pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure is mine," you replied. "But I'm serious, I'm not like that with Saïx. We're just friends."

"Does that mean I have a chance with you?" Xigbar sat on the couch by your side and scooted closer, circling his arm around your shoulder.

"You'll want to keep your hands off her if you still value your life," a short, bluish haired guy said. Half of his face was hidden behind his bangs. He looked really young. "They may not be in a relationship, but Saïx is fond of her. He's marking her as far as I can see."

For some reason you couldn't help but blush at that statement.

"Pardon them, [Name]. My name is Zexion." He looked at you with cold, icy stare. It was rather difficult to see his face because of his hair, but you could definitely see that he was good looking. Everyone in this place was good looking. You had to remind yourself that you were in a headquarters full of assassins every so often.

"Aw, come on. If he's taking it too slow, someone else is going to take her." Xigbar chuckled. "The early bird catches the worm, they say."

"Ew," a blonde haired guy with a mullet commented. "Don't fall for him, [Name]. He breaks hearts more than he gets his work done."

"Don't worry, I won't," you replied with a chuckle, earning an overdramatic reaction from said person.

"By the way, I'm Demyx. Nice to meet you." The mullet guy offered his hand.

You shook it. "You, too."

"I'm still not giving up on you, lass."

"Seriously, Xigbar. Stop it. You disgust me."

"Enough, all of you," Aerith spoke, walking towards you and grabbing your arm. "She just had a shock, be considerate. How about throwing a welcoming party for [Name]?"

"That sounds great!" Sora exclaimed. "We should feast!"

"[Name], can you cook?" Aerith asked.

"Yes. I live alone so it's a basic survival skill," you replied jokingly.

"Alright. You help me in the kitchen. The rest of you go prepare the tables!"

Aerith dragged you back into the kitchen and prepared some ingredients. You looked around. Everything was sorted neatly in place, like it was seldomly used. You remembered how Saïx disliked food from the headquarters. Did they eat canned food everyday or something?

"Hey, [Name], are you okay?" Aerith suddenly asked.

You snapped out of your trance. "Huh? Oh... Yeah. I'm fine."

She frowned sadly and sighed. "Look, Xemnas has his reasons. He's worried about all of us. For now the only thing you can do is just follow what he says... Maybe when he earns your trust, he'll let you go."

"I know... I can understand. Actually, I know something like this would happen from the start." You looked away. "I'm actually more worried about Saïx..."

"No need to worry about him," Aerith said and patted your shoulder. "Xemnas trusts him a lot. Actually, I think he might be the only one able to change Xemnas' mind. I'm sure everything will be alright."

You pouted. "I haven't even said thank you to him."

Aerith laughed. "You both really do worry about each other a lot, huh?"

You looked at her confusedly.

She giggled. "Ever since that day you joined him in a mission, he's been worrying about you like a mother. That's why everyone is curious about you. Saïx has never been like that with anyone before."

You felt a blush crept up your face. Had he really been that worried?

"I'm just glad he found someone he truly cares about, and cares about him. Keeps his mind off Vanitas." Aerith walked to the counter to start preparing the food.

You couldn't help the warm feeling inside your chest when Aerith said that, but you needed to clarify things. "Stop saying stuff like that. We're really not in that kind of relationship. That's embarrassing."

"Well, do you like him?" she asked again, a playful smirk adorning her face.

"Ye—No! I mean, NO! I like him, but not like that!" At this point your swore your face must have been red as a tomato. Well, actually you didn't know what you were feeling towards Saïx. He was always sending you mixed signals. You didn't know how to respond.

Aerith laughed. "You need to sort it out soon."

You sighed. Yeah, you really needed to.

***

Everyone threw a welcoming banquet for you that night. They praised your and Aerith's cooking. Everyone seemed like they were having fun. The friendly atmosphere made it rather difficult to believe that they were actually a group of assassins.

Xemnas and Saïx didn't join you, though. They weren't done with whatever it was they were talking about.

Aerith said that you should sleep in the HQ for the night because it was late and dangerous to let you be alone for the time being. She gave you a room next to hers. Apparently she was the only female member in this branch. The HQ had a lot of vacant rooms, probably for new members. Riku knocked on your room to say goodnight later. He was such a sweet guy.

When everyone had returned to their own rooms to get some rest, you sneaked out to the roof to get some air. Today was rough, and you needed some alone time to clear your mind. You looked at the sky. Just months ago you were just a normal office worker, living a normal life, with normal friends. Everything seemed so distant now. Starting tomorrow, you would become an assassin.

The sound of door opening startled you, but your eyes gleamed as soon as you saw who it was.

"Saïx!"

You weren't given time to react when he dashed towards your direction and embraced you in a hug. You looked at him wide eyed, but returned the gesture nonetheless.

"Saïx...?"

"You're alright," he muttered. "I was so worried."

Your face flared bright red. Was this really Saïx?

You felt warm tears flowing from your eyes. You didn't know why you started crying. You thought you had been alright, but just in front of him, you somehow felt comfortable enough to show this side. Too much had happened in one day and you were mentally exhausted. Both of you just stood there in silence with only the sounds of your sobs echoing in the air.

He wiped you tears with his thumb. "You okay?"

"I'm okay," you muttered between sobs. "My body feels sore from running all day, but I'm alright." You tried to smile at him. "How about you? Are you okay?"

He pulled back from the embrace but didn't answer. He just looked at you silently. His golden gaze glistening under the moonlight was enchanting as always.

"I talked to the Superior," he said. "I can't make him change his mind about making you an assassin, but I managed to lighten it a bit."

"What do you mean?" you asked.

"He said you can stop being an assassin once we catch Vanitas," he said again, calmly waiting for your response.

"R-Really? Vanitas, huh..." you trailed off. There really was nothing you could do to cut off the deal completely. "I guess that's good enough."

"You're just going to be an informant like Aerith, so you can just live like you normally do. No need to quit your job or anything. You just need to come to the HQ when we need something," Saïx explained. "Pretty much like what we've been doing. Being my assistant."

You sighed in relief. You had been scared that Xemnas would ask you to quit your job and live here or something extreme like that, but Saïx saved you the hassle on that.

Which reminded you.

"Hey... Saïx?"

He glanced at you.

You fidgeted. For some reason you felt awkward. "I'm glad that you've been worrying about me. Also, thank you for protecting me back there. If it weren't for you..." you trailed off, not having the courage to say it. You gave him a shy smile. "You know, I was so happy when I saw you. I thought you had abandoned me..."

His gaze wavered for a moment. "You know I can never do that..."

You saw that rare glint in his eyes whenever his stony facade was down. He let his thumb brush over your lips, and for a second, you thought that he might kiss you.

He pulled back just as fast though. With a sharp turn of his heels, he walked back inside. He didn't look at you when he said, "You should get some rest. It's getting cold."

And with that, he left you alone in the cold roof balcony. There he was again, giving mixed signals. You could still feel your heart thumping loudly in your chest. Aerith's question from this evening rang in your head like siren. Maybe you had found your answer to it.

You had fallen for the assassin.

_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tend to make my chapters much longer lately, but updates much slower lol  
> I did not proofread this chapter so there are possibilities of mistakes. Notify me if you spot any.
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> **[EDIT 12/07/17]**  
>  I made something for the end of this chapter!  
> [Click here!](https://i.imgur.com/2bMMPX1.png)
> 
> Sorry if my drawing is shit lol  
> I tried doing this to make it feel like you're reading a visual novel or playing an otome game.  
> The girl doesn't necessarily have to look like that btw. She is just a blank slate, you can imagine yourself being in her place instead~
> 
> Enjoy!


	10. Simple Attraction

**Broken Fates**  
_—When nothing else feels right, just trust your heart._

 **Chapter 10:** Simple Attraction  
  
\---

You went home early in the morning. Some of the assassins were reluctant to let you go when you said goodbye to them. Xigbar was practically wooing you and trying to convince you to stay another day. Sora, Riku, and Demyx were worried that you had to leave so soon, but they promised to pay you a visit later. Zexion gave you a notebook with handwritten instructions and filled you in on meeting schedules before you left. Aerith packed you breakfast and told you to eat on your way back like the ever caring friend she was. Marluxia and Luxord seemed like they didn't care at first, but they told you that you could come to the headquarters anytime because you were one of them now. Xemnas didn't personally see you leave, but you caught a glimpse of him on the balcony when you walked out of the building.  
  
They were all so welcoming of you even though you weren't really an assassin. It involuntarily made you feel a little guilty.  
  
Now that you were finally going back home you should've felt relieved, but there was one problem still following you hot on your trails that kept you from relaxing.  
  
Saïx was told to keep a close eye on you. Meaning, he was escorting you home and ordered to be your personal guardian for an undetermined period of time. At first you debated about it, but Xemnas' mighty glare kept you from saying anything further.  
  
As soon as you arrived at home you flopped on your bed. You felt exhausted despite having a decent sleep last night. You closed your eyes for a while to rest.  
  
Saïx walked into your room and saw you collapsed on the bed. "Are you okay?"  
  
Your whole body felt sore and your joints felt like they were going to fall apart but you couldn't even find the energy to answer. You just raised your hand to signal him 'five minutes'.  
  
Saïx silently walked closer and sat on the edge of the bed. He brought the box Aerith packed you earlier. "You should eat something."  
  
You opened one eye to peek at him. "I have to get ready and go to work."  
  
You swore you saw him glare and narrowed his eyes at you from the corner of your eyes. "That's all you can think of right after you escape from Vanitas?"  
  
Ah, right. He just had to remind you how you wasted your precious Sunday trying to escape from becoming an experimental lab rat.  
  
"Stay at home. It's not safe."  
  
"I can't... I have to go. There's an important meeting today," you muttered as you heavily tried to sit up. You let out a sigh and looked at Saïx. "You can go back, you know... I'll be fine by myself."  
  
Saïx stared at you for a while before shaking his head. "And risk the chance to let Vanitas kidnap you again? No."  
  
You pouted. "You can't watch over me 24/7. I have to go to work, anyway."  
  
Saïx looked like he was contemplating for a moment. "Then I'll come with you."  
  
You looked at him incredulously. "What? No. That's impossible. I'm not allowed to bring outsiders into the office."  
  
"I'll watch from outside."  
  
You glared at him. "No, Saïx. I told you, I'll be okay on my own. Vanitas can't do anything in broad daylight."  
  
Saïx glared back at you, his golden eyes sharp. "What do you know about Vanitas? He's mad. He'd do anything to get what he wants."  
  
"My work place is full of people! He can't be that reckless..." you tried reasoning.  
  
"He is," Saïx replied again, glowering at you. "Or would you rather see everyone in your workplace get hurt because of your own recklessness?"  
  
Your breath hitched. You searched Saïx's eyes, but all you could see was him being serious. You sighed defeatedly. To be honest, you knew that he was right. Your life was probably still in danger and Vanitas could already be searching for you for all you knew. There was no place safe enough for you until he was captured.  
  
You pulled you knees to your chest and sighed tiredly, burying your face in your arms. You could feel Saïx gently rubbing his hand on your back. The gesture sent a soothing sensation, but it didn't ease your mind at all.  
  
With a weak voice, you asked, "Saïx... What's gonna happen to me now?"  
  
Saïx didn't answer right away, but you heard him whisper, "You'll be alright. I won't let anything happen to you."  
  
You felt heat rushed to your face. You did figure out that you were attracted to him. You couldn't blame yourself, anyone would fall for such a handsome and mysterious person like Saïx. You couldn't deny his charms despite him always giving you mixed signals... like last night especially. That look in his eyes... That wasn't just any look an assassin would give their hostage—even if you weren't technically his captive anymore.  
  
You shook your head from the thought. What were you thinking? Even if you were attracted to each other, there was no way you could build a proper relationship with someone who killed for a living. He was an assassin, no matter the circumstances why he became one. No one would approve of you having a partner that got money out of people's lives.  
  
You sadly smiled to yourself. Nothing good would come out of getting your hopes up even if he felt the same way. Keeping a distance would probably be best to save yourself from the trouble.  
  
You sighed once more and looked at him with determined eyes. "Alright, you can come with me, but under one condition. You have to stay outside and pretend that we don't know each other, okay? I'll make sure Roxas and Axel don't see you either."  
  
After contemplating for a while, Saïx nodded. "Fair enough."  
  
You shook you head. You just hoped nothing bad happened after this.  
  
***  
  
"Are you sure you're okay, [Name]?" Roxas asked with genuine worry. "You seem veeery out of it today."  
  
"You keep looking out the window like a paranoid." Axel nudged your forehead. "Don't even think about jumping off."  
  
"I'm not suicidal, Axel." You shook your head. "Just tired."  
  
"Happens a lot lately to you," Axel commented while eyeing you suspiciously. "Also, where have you been yesterday? You didn't pick up my calls and ignored my messages. All day."  
  
You bit your lip. There was no way you could tell him that you were kidnapped by a psychopath and led a grand escape a la action movies yesterday. "I went on a date with Saïx. We came home late and I didn't get a chance to reply your messages."  
  
"I guess that's why you seem so tired," Roxas commented innocently. "You're even walking weird since morning."  
  
Axel immediately stared at you with bulging eyes. "[Name]... Did you—?"  
  
"NO!" you quickly retorted, slapping his face with paper. "Don't start making weird ideas! W-We went to the amusement park yesterday so I felt sore... is all."  
  
Roxas looked at Axel confusedly and asked, "Did [Name] what?"  
  
Axel ignored the poor guy as he glanced at you suspiciously. "Really?"  
  
"Dude, stop," you groaned. "You're confusing Roxas."  
  
"It's not like he isn't old enough to know about it." Axel leaned in at you and smirked teasingly. "You're just trying to change the subject. Don't worry, it's normal to do something naughty with your boyfriend."  
  
You had to hold yourself from throwing your monitor at him. Too bad, Axel scrambled away before you could do anything, dragging Roxas with him back to his desk. He laughed as his voice faded in the distance. "See you after work!"  
  
You shook your head. Axel couldn't pass a day without teasing you. Well, at least he was back to normal now. Having him met Saïx was a good idea after all. You smiled at his general direction.  
  
You returned your focus to the window and looked down at the garden. Your eyes automatically searched for a certain blue haired figure. You spotted him, unsuspiciously hiding under the shadows of a tree, sitting on a bench, staring straight at your direction.  
  
Saïx kept his promise of not approaching you at work. He had been sitting on that same spot since morning, watching you like a hawk. He didn't move an inch from that spot, never taking his gaze off for even a minute. He probably hadn't even had lunch yet.  
  
You sighed and frowned. You thought he would give up, but he was taking this very seriously. You didn't want to do this to him, but there was no other way. If you didn't start bordering yourself... you didn't know what might happen.  
  
The day went by slowly until your work hour was over. Roxas trotted to your desk when you were packing your stuff, ready to go home. He smiled cheerfully. "[Name], wanna stop by the usual place?"  
  
You glanced at Roxas and knew he meant the bar. You thought to yourself. Well... the last time you went there was the first time you met Saïx, just right when you were going home that cold September night. It felt so long ago now. Biting your lip, you knew that you should probably go straight home in this situation, but the look in Roxas' eyes shattered your determination.  
  
"We used to go there all the time, now you just feel so distant," he pleaded. "Just this once, please? Axel will be coming, too."  
  
You bit your lip. Getting away from home was a tempting idea. Being stuck with Saïx for the rest of the day would definitely be awkward, and since you were planning to keep a distance from him, it was probably the perfect alibi. After a while, you sighed, giving in to Roxas' wish. You sent him a smile. "Alright, but just for a while."  
  
He beamed gleefully before jumping away to his own desk, probably eager to tell Axel. You glanced out the window where Saïx was waiting for you under that tree. Just a while wouldn't be a problem, would it?  
  
The three of you went to the bar together that evening. Axel wouldn't shut up saying about how long it had been since the three of you went out together. Roxas wasn't much different. He seemed a lot happier than he normally was and kept urging you to walk faster.  
  
They both seemed to really miss you. The past months you had been so busy with the assassins that you had unconsciously left your friends behind. You had been living under stress lately that you forgot how it felt to live a normal life. This was where you were supposed to belong, having fun with your best friends and enjoying life, not being involved with dangerous assassins and cold blooded murderers at nights. For once, everything felt perfect.  
  
You enjoyed yourself for the rest of the evening. You were desperate to forget your stress so you drank and danced to your heart's content. It didn't take long for you to start becoming tipsy.  
  
Axel approached you on the bar from behind the sea of people. He chuckled. "Don't tell me you've had enough."  
  
"I need to at least know my way home," you replied with a laugh, looking at his direction.  
  
He laughed back, before leaning on the bar and stared around the room. There was a short silence between the two of you before he asked, "So, how's it going with your boyfriend? Saïx, was it?"  
  
You swore you saw him grimace at the mention of Saïx's name. Maybe it was just your imagination?  
  
You held your martini tight in your palms. "It's fine, I guess."  
  
Axel paused for a while. "Are you happy with him?"  
  
"Why ask that?"  
  
"I dunno," he turned to look at you, his emerald eyes glittered under the discotheque light. "You don't look like yourself lately. Maybe I'm just worried."  
  
You returned his searching gaze. Your head felt light and it was hard to fight the temptation of telling him everything about your life the last few months. There was no one you could really share this dark secret with, and the thought about telling it all to Axel and running away from reality just sounded so nice. Lost within your own thought, you stayed silent.  
  
Axel frowned, softening his gaze. "You know you can tell me anything, right? I'm always here for you."  
  
You locked gazes for a long time. Axel was kind and caring, and he was always there by your side. If only you had fallen for him everything would've been much simpler. You realized how you always looked at him like a good friend. Maybe that was a mistake at your part. Maybe you should learn to open up for him...  
  
Mesmerized by the thought, you felt yourself slowly inching closer to him. You didn't know which to blame. Maybe it was the atmosphere, the music, or maybe it was the alcohol playing tricks on you—but you were lulled by the temptation and when you realized the two of you were drawn to each other.  
  
Your lips were inches close when you suddenly felt someone yank at your arm, pulling you away from Axel.  
  
Regaining consciousness of your surroundings, you saw Saïx as he pushed you behind him, standing between you and Axel. A dark glower visible on his scarred face.  
  
Axel seemed shocked for mere seconds before regaining his composure. Seeing Saïx, his expression changed as words seethed out his mouth like thorns, "Hey. Didn't know you're here."  
  
For a moment you saw Saïx clenching his fists. Was he angry? The two of them glared at each other for what felt like the longest, the atmosphere tense of unspoken words. You tried to interfere, but you were too intimidated by them to say anything.  
  
Without so much as a word, Saïx grabbed your wrist and dragged you away. "We're going home."  
  
"Wait—" you managed to stutter, but didn't get the chance to say anything else as you were dragged out of the bar. You saw Axel's figure slowly disappearing in the distance, hidden by the sea of people.  
  
After you disappeared from his view, Axel turned around to lean on the bar, supporting his weight. A bitter smile framed his face as he let out a sigh. Regret always comes too late.  
  
Saïx kept dragging you out to the streets. His grip on your wrist was tightening each step and you couldn't hold it in any longer. With an angry stomp, you stopped in your track and pulled your hand away.  
  
You shouted at him at the top of your lung, "What do you think you're doing?!"  
  
The assassin stopped and turned around to look at you. You felt your anger subside a little as you caught the grim expression on his usually serene face. You had never seen him wear that look before, and it sent chills down your spine.  
  
His voice was dangerously low when he said, "I don't like seeing you with him."  
  
There was a painful tug at your chest at his words. Was he... jealous? No, that was impossible. You clenched you fists. This was so unlike Saïx, it scared you. You took a step back threateningly. Your tone came out harsher than you meant when you said, "Why? It's not like you are my real boyfriend. Stop interfering with my personal life."  
  
He practically ignored you as he said, "Have you forgotten? You're mine. No one else can lay a hand on you."  
  
Your breath hitched as you stared at him wide eyed. Just when you decided to forget your feelings for him, he said something like that out of the blue. He probably still meant it as an 'asset' as usual, but you knew deep down, your sentimental self secretly hoped it wasn't. The realization hit you hard and it was making you weak.  
  
The tug in your chest tightened and tears started to well in your eyes. Not wanting him to see you cry, you turned around and started running.  
  
You faintly heard him call your name but you didn't care. The only thing you could think of was to run away from him. A part of you hoped that if you ran as far as you could, this feeling would go away. Everything seemed to blur when your tears fell freely down your cheeks.  
  
But no matter how far you ran it still hurt.  
  
You stopped running. Your head felt light and your vision was clouded. Your ears rang like siren and you felt like throwing up. When you came to your senses, you could hear Saïx's voice, calling you from the side of the road.  
  
"[NAME]!"  
  
A flash of light blinded your eyes as a truck honked right in front of your face. When you realized it, you were standing in the middle of the road, a truck coming straight at your direction. Shock and fear overwhelmed you and all you could do was shut your eyes, preparing for the impact.  
  
...But the pain never came, instead, you were pushed down to the other side of the road as warmth enveloped you in a protective embrace. You shrieked when you hit the cold pavement of the ground as you stared at the passing truck. Saïx had just saved you from a heavy misfortune.  
  
He was leaning over you with both hands on the sides of your head as he shouted, "Are you stupid?! Running away like that... What if you got hit?!"  
  
The expression on his face was a complete mess. There was no sign of the usual calm, collected assassin. All you saw was the face of a man scared to death about you getting hurt.  
  
Staring back at him, you knew that there was no denying yourself any longer. You realized that what you felt towards him was no longer a simple attraction.  
  
You had fallen helplessly in love with him.  
  
***  
  
Saïx carried you all the way to your house after that incident. You scraped your knee pretty badly when you fell and he insisted to carry you home. Knowing it was useless to resist, you silently let him.  
  
He put you on the bed and started tending to your wound as soon as you arrived. He carefully cleaned your knee and applied alcohol and ointments. You winced in pain, but said nothing.  
  
Neither of you said anything on the way home. You could only clung helplessly on his shoulder as he carried you bridal style all the way to your house. It was embarrassing, but a part of you enjoyed every moment of it.  
  
After he finished bandaging your knee he stood up and sat on the bed beside you. The two of you sat in silence, neither dared to speak. After fidgeting for a while, you decided to be the first to break the silence.  
  
"Thank you... for saving me back there."  
  
Saïx turned to look at you, which you avoided his gaze from. You could feel his golden stare piercing at you, but you turned to look at him when you felt him took a strand of your hair in his fingers.  
  
"I've lost enough people that are important to me," he said in a whisper. His fingers moved to your cheek and down to your chin, lifting up your face and made you look at him in the eyes. "So, please, don't ever do that again."  
  
You felt a blush crept up your face as you looked away in embarrassment. "I'm sorry..."  
  
Silence returned between the two of you. There were so many things you wanted to ask him, like what he meant with those words he said earlier, but you couldn't bring yourself to ask. They were at the tip of your tongue, but something kept them from coming out.  
  
Maybe you were just scared to hear the answer to them.  
  
You knew that there was something between the two of you, but you weren't ready to hear it. It was difficult enough to accept that you had fallen in love with an assassin, let alone having an actual relationship with him.  
  
For now, you probably should just keep it to yourself.  
  
A groan from Saïx snapped you out of your thought. He was pinching the spot between his brows in pain. You panicked. "A-Are you okay?"  
  
"It's just a headache..."  
  
You were suddenly reminded how he was keeping a watch over you all day long.  
  
"Saïx, have you eaten anything today?" He probably hadn't. "Hold on, I'll cook you something!"  
  
You quickly scrambled to the kitchen and started preparing a dish. How could you forget?! He was taking his job very seriously, and yet here you were, having the audacity to make him hang around a bar reeking of alcohol and smoke while starving. It was a miracle he didn't pass out or something. Realizing how stupid you were, you couldn't help the guilty feeling in your heart.  
  
He was silently watching you as you cooked him his favorite stew. This had happened a lot of time before, but it felt different now for some reason. You felt embarrassed at his stare. Apparently the thought bothered you so much you accidentally cut yourself while chopping the vegetables. You winced in pain as you saw blood dripping from the tip of your finger.  
  
Saïx stood up from his seat and walked over to you. Without warning, he took your wounded finger and brought it to his lips before gently sucking it.  
  
You swore you could've exploded as heat started rising to your face. You quickly pulled your hand away and shrieked. "W-Wh-What are you doing?!"  
  
"Wounds heal faster if you lick them," he replied with a completely emotionless face like nothing happened.  
  
Well, he certainly wasn't licking it, he was _sucking_ it.  
  
Seemed like this whole keep it to yourself thing was harder than you thought.  
  
You decided to ignore him and pretended nothing happened.  
  
The stew was soon finished and you served it to him. The warm steam gave out a delicious smell. Saïx quickly ate it, and just as soon as he finished, he started walking towards the door.  
  
The thought of him leaving left a tug in your chest for some reason.  
  
"Where are you going?" you asked.  
  
"The headquarters," he replied without looking at you. "I'm going to file in a report to the Superior. Vanitas didn't come today, but it doesn't mean he would not tomorrow."  
  
"Oh." You looked down at your feet. He was only leaving for a while, right? He'd be back in no time. Then why were you suddenly feeling so lonely?  
  
Saïx continued to walk out the door, and before you realized it, you were already tugging his sleeve, holding him from going anywhere. "Wait..."  
  
He looked at you in confusion. You mentally knocked yourself. Of course he'd be confused. Since when had you started being so clingy all of a sudden? Shouldn't you be happy because you could finally make some distance and calm your mind about him if he was away?  
  
You mouth still betrayed your thought nonetheless. Your grip on his sleeve tightened. "Don't leave me alone..."  
  
He finally tuned around to face you. "You know I'll only be leaving for a while, right?"  
  
You couldn't answer that, so you just stayed silent and looked away.  
  
Looking at your response, his gaze soften. "Alright. I'll stay for a while longer."  
  
It was late and you got ready to go to sleep. Saïx sat on a chair by your bed, keeping you company for the rest of the evening. It was close to midnight when you heard thunder rumbling outside. Soon, a thunderstorm poured.  
  
"I think you should cancel the report for today," you muttered, looking out the glass door facing to your balcony.  
  
Saïx followed your gaze, but commented nothing on it. He looked at you. "You should go to sleep. I'll sleep downstairs."  
  
You watched him as he stood up from his seat and started walking out the door. You remembered that you didn't have a couch downstairs... So, where would he be sleeping? The floor? If he was going to be staying with you, you should at least provide him with a decent bedding.  
  
But... where?  
  
You looked at the side of your bed. It was big enough to fit for one more person...  
  
You called out to him, "Saïx."  
  
He stopped to look at you.  
  
You fidgeted with the hem of your blanket. "You... You should sleep here. It's not comfortable to sleep downstairs. You might feel sore." You avoided his gaze, making sure your voice sounded as stable as possible.  
  
He kept looking at you, as if asking if it was really okay. You nodded your head. "Come on, before I change my mind."  
  
Taking it as a yes, Saïx walked over to the other side of the bed and carefully climbed up. He shifted to make himself comfortable, making sure there was enough space between the two of you. He looked at you once more to make sure if this really was alright with you.  
  
You used all your strength to keep yourself from blushing. "I trust you won't do anything weird, so it's fine."  
  
There was silence after that.  
  
The rain poured harder and thunder roared, creating flashes of lightning. You looked out the balcony and tried to make a conversation to lighten up the atmosphere.  
  
"I hate rainy seasons," you commented. It was cold and humid, not exactly enjoyable in your book. You turned to the assassin. "What's your favorite season?"  
  
He was contemplating for a moment before answering, "I don't know."  
  
You chuckled. "You don't know? Everyone should have one."  
  
"I've never thought about it," he replied, turning to look at you. The lightning caused his eyes to glow a brilliant shade of gold. "I've never thought about a lot of things. I've only started doing it after I met you."  
  
You looked at him wide eyed.  
  
"I started having things I like and hate. I like your stew, and I hate seeing you with that friend of yours," he grimaced and narrowed his eyes as he said it. "There used to be nothing more important for me than seeking revenge. I was so blinded by emotions that I forgot how it feels to have something that I truly care about." He paused. "That's why... when you were kidnapped by Vanitas, I was scared for the first time in forever. I started thinking about what I'd do if I lost you..."  
  
You were thankful it was dark, because if not, you swore he'd see how deep you blushed at those words. You gripped your blanket tightly as he continued to speak.  
  
"And then earlier you almost got hit by a truck right in front of my eyes. My heart skipped a beat right there and then," he continued. He let his fingers touch your face and gently traced it down your cheek. There was sadness in his beautiful golden eyes. "You remind me of how it feels to have family, to have someone I care about. That's why I have to protect you from Vanitas. I can't let him steal any more of my happiness."  
  
There was a painful knot deep within your heart when you heard him say that. A family. That was all he saw you as. Of course, what did you expect?  
  
You turned away from him and pulled your blanket over, not wanting him to see your face. You couldn't bear to hear anymore as tears threatened to fall out your eyes. Out of everything he had said today, that was probably the most painful to hear.  
  
Soon, you fell into slumber.  
  
Noticing that you had fallen asleep, Saïx sighed and gently stroked your hair. He never thought that he'd find someone that he cared for more than himself. He wouldn't let anything hurt you, or he would never be able to forgive himself.  
  
With a sad frown, he whispered, "Don't worry, I'll protect you."  
  
_To be continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know, the more I write the more "Ventus" Roxas becomes. Lol. I should've changed his name instead... *slapped*
> 
> So many drama in this chapter ahahahahaaa  
> I hope I didn't get too overboard and you can still relate to the MC here. I'm not good at writing emotional scenes so this probably sucks.
> 
> Thank you for reading! See you next chapter!
> 
>  **[EDIT 08/09/17]**  
>  This is probably too late at this point but I made the basic floor plan of your house. I never really describe it in details in the story so this is me making up for it. Doesn't necessarily need to look like this if you don't want to, but when I'm writing the fic this is the setting that I project in my mind.
> 
> Nothing too fancy, of course. You're just a simple office worker after all.
> 
> [Take a look here!](https://i.imgur.com/UlYAnxq.png)  
> [Sample shots](https://i.imgur.com/Dh9aw9H.png)
> 
> (The dark area on the second floor is that inaccessible part of the house that kinda buffers the roof. What is it called? Trestle? CMIIW my English sucks I know.)  
> 


End file.
